Commands

Artisan command classes inside modules are discovered and registered automatically. Any non-abstract class extending Illuminate\Console\Command that lives under a configured path becomes available in Artisan.

'commands' => [
    'active' => true,
    'patterns' => [
        '*/Console/Commands',
    ],
],

Modules/Blog/
└── Console/
    └── Commands/
        ├── PublishPosts.php          // discovered (extends Command)
        ├── PruneDrafts.php           // discovered (extends Command)
        └── BaseCommand.php           // ignored (abstract class)

Module commands work exactly like application commands. Define a $signature, a $description, and a handle() method:

namespace Modules\Blog\Console\Commands;

use Illuminate\Console\Command;

class PublishPosts extends Command
{
    protected $signature = 'blog:publish-posts
                            {--dry-run : Show what would be published without making changes}';

    protected $description = 'Publish all scheduled posts that are past their publish date';

    public function handle(): int
    {
        $query = Post::where('publish_at', '<=', now())
            ->where('status', 'draft');

        if ($this->option('dry-run')) {
            $this->info("Would publish {$query->count()} posts.");
            return self::SUCCESS;
        }

        $count = $query->update(['status' => 'published']);
        $this->info("Published {$count} posts.");

        return self::SUCCESS;
    }
}

Run it:

php artisan blog:publish-posts
php artisan blog:publish-posts --dry-run

The scanner finds all non-abstract classes that extend Illuminate\Console\Command (directly or through intermediate classes). Abstract base commands are skipped, so you can create shared base classes without them showing up in php artisan list.

Each command's $signature must be unique across your entire application, including all modules. If two modules register a command with the same signature, the second one overwrites the first. Use a module-specific prefix (like blog:, shop:) to avoid collisions.

You can also define closure-based Artisan commands in Routes/console.php files (see the Routes docs). Use command classes when you want a dedicated class with its own tests and dependency injection. Use console routes for quick, one-off commands that don't need much structure.

Set 'commands.active' => false to stop auto-registering module commands. Adjust 'commands.patterns' if your modules use a different directory for commands.