Console Commands

Purpose and Scope

This page documents Telescope's console command system, which provides administrative tools for managing recorded monitoring data and system state. These commands enable developers and operators to clear entries, control recording state, prune old data, and publish package assets.

For information about the web-based management interface, see Web Interface. For details about the storage repositories these commands interact with, see Repository Pattern.

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Command Registration and Bootstrap

Telescope registers five management commands during service provider initialization. The TelescopeServiceProvider registers all commands unconditionally in its boot() method, making them available regardless of whether Telescope monitoring is enabled.

Command Registration

Command Class	Signature	Primary Function
Console\ClearCommand	telescope:clear	Delete all entries from storage
Console\PauseCommand	telescope:pause	Stop data collection temporarily
Console\ResumeCommand	telescope:resume	Resume data collection
Console\PruneCommand	telescope:prune	Remove old entries based on retention policy
Console\PublishCommand	telescope:publish	Export migrations, assets, and config files

The registration occurs in src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php98-107:

Sources: src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php98-107

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Command Architecture and Lifecycle

The following diagram illustrates how console commands integrate with Telescope's storage layer and configuration system:

Command Execution Flow

Sources: src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php98-107 src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php163-179

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telescope:clear Command

The ClearCommand provides a mechanism to delete all recorded Telescope entries from storage. This command is typically used during development or when resetting monitoring data.

Implementation

The command interacts with the ClearableRepository contract, which abstracts the storage deletion logic:

src/Console/ClearCommand.php1-31

Behavior

Aspect	Details
Dependency Injection	Receives ClearableRepository via constructor injection
Storage Operations	Calls clear() method to remove all entries
Output	Displays confirmation message: "Telescope entries cleared!"
Affected Tables	telescope_entries, telescope_entries_tags, telescope_monitoring
Safety	No confirmation prompt - executes immediately

Storage Interaction Diagram

Sources: src/Console/ClearCommand.php1-31 src/Contracts/ClearableRepository.php

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telescope:pause and telescope:resume Commands

These commands control Telescope's recording state by managing a pause flag in the cache system. When paused, Telescope stops collecting new monitoring data but retains previously recorded entries.

PauseCommand Structure

Expected Behavior

Command	Signature	Action	Cache Key	Cache Value	Duration
PauseCommand	telescope:pause	Stop recording	telescope:pause-state	true	Forever
ResumeCommand	telescope:resume	Resume recording	telescope:pause-state	Deleted	N/A

Integration with Recording Logic

When paused, the Telescope::isRecording() method checks for the pause flag before allowing data collection. All watchers call this method before recording entries, ensuring consistent behavior across the system.

Sources: src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php100-107 src/Console/PauseCommand.php src/Console/ResumeCommand.php

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telescope:prune Command

The PruneCommand removes old Telescope entries based on the configured retention policy. This command is typically run on a schedule to prevent unbounded database growth.

Prune Logic

Configuration	Purpose	Default Value
telescope.retention.hours	Hours to keep entries	Not set (keeps all)
Watcher-specific retention	Override global setting per entry type	Varies by watcher

Expected Implementation Pattern

Prune Operation Flow

Sources: src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php100-107 src/Contracts/PrunableRepository.php

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telescope:publish Command

The PublishCommand exports Telescope's package files to the application directory structure, allowing customization of migrations, assets, configuration, and service provider logic.

Publishable Asset Groups

The command supports tagged publishing, allowing selective export of different asset types:

Tag	Source Path	Target Path	Purpose
telescope-migrations	database/migrations/	database/migrations/	Database schema files
telescope-assets	public/	public/vendor/telescope/	JavaScript and CSS files
telescope-config	config/telescope.php	config/telescope.php	Configuration file
telescope-provider	stubs/TelescopeServiceProvider.stub	app/Providers/	Customizable service provider

Publishing Registration

The publishable resources are registered in src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php76-93:

Publish Command Usage

Command Execution Examples

Sources: src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php76-93 src/Console/PublishCommand.php

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Command Registration in Service Provider

The command registration process is straightforward and occurs early in the application bootstrap sequence, before conditional Telescope initialization:

Key Implementation Detail

Commands are registered unconditionally (line 25) before checking telescope.enabled (line 28). This design ensures that administrative commands like telescope:clear and telescope:publish remain available even when Telescope monitoring is disabled, allowing operators to manage existing data and export configuration.

Sources: src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php23-48 src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php98-107

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Repository Contract Binding

Commands interact with storage through three repository contracts, all bound to DatabaseEntriesRepository by default:

Contract-to-Implementation Mapping

Contract	Methods	Used By Commands	Binding Location
ClearableRepository	clear()	telescope:clear	src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php170-173
PrunableRepository	prune(Carbon $before)	telescope:prune	src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php175-178
EntriesRepository	store(), update(), etc.	(Storage operations)	src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php165-168

Binding Registration Flow

This binding pattern enables alternative storage implementations (e.g., Redis, Elasticsearch) by implementing the same contracts and registering different driver methods.

Sources: src/TelescopeServiceProvider.php151-179 src/Contracts/ClearableRepository.php src/Contracts/PrunableRepository.php src/Contracts/EntriesRepository.php