Soft Delete Support

Configure how ElasticLens handles soft-deleted Base Models.

Default Behavior

By default, when a Base Model is soft-deleted, its corresponding Index Model record is deleted. This means soft-deleted records are not searchable.

Keeping Index Records on Soft Delete

If you want soft-deleted records to remain in the index (with their deleted_at timestamp synced), enable the index_soft_deletes config option:

Global Configuration

config/elasticlens.php

return [
    'index_soft_deletes' => true,
    // ...
];

When enabled, soft-deleting a model will trigger an index rebuild instead of a deletion, syncing the deleted_at field to the index.

Per-Model Override

You can override the global setting on individual Index Models using the $indexSoftDeletes property:

class IndexedUser extends IndexModel
{
    protected $baseModel = User::class;

    // Override global config for this index
    protected ?bool $indexSoftDeletes = true;
}

The per-model setting takes priority over the global config:

• $indexSoftDeletes = true - Always keep index records on soft delete
• $indexSoftDeletes = false - Always remove index records on soft delete
• $indexSoftDeletes = null (default) - Fall back to global index_soft_deletes config

Restore Behavior

When a soft-deleted model is restored, ElasticLens automatically triggers an index rebuild regardless of the soft delete configuration. This ensures the index is always up to date after a restore.

Observer Flow

The observer handles soft deletes through three events:

• deleting - If soft delete with index retention, skips deletion (lets deleted handle it). Otherwise, deletes the index record.
• deleted - If the model is trashed and shouldIndexSoftDeletes() is true, triggers a rebuild to sync deleted_at.
• restored - Always triggers a rebuild to sync the restored state.

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