Admin Tools — Configuration

Everything under Tools & Settings in the admin panel (/admin/tools): company data, branding, money, tracking numbers, statuses, catalogs, payments and notifications.

Open the admin sidebar and click Tools & Settings. The landing page (admin.tools route) shows grouped cards — General Settings, Communications, Logistics & Locations, Catalog Management, Payment & Finance, System & Integration and Access Control. Each link only appears when your role has the matching tools.* permission. Almost every screen on this page writes to the single settings table row and takes effect immediately.

General settings

Tools & Settings → General Settings (/admin/tools/settings) holds company identity, registration rules and locale. Fields saved by ToolsController::settingsSave():

Currency lives on the same screen. Pick a country from Select Currency (fed by the countries table, which carries currency and currency_symbol) or enter a custom currency code and for_symbol. Currency Format (cformat 1–4) decides decimal/thousand separators, Symbol Position (for_currency p/s) puts the symbol left or right, and Decimal Places (for_decimal) shows 0 or 2 decimals. A live preview under the fields renders the result, e.g. $1,234.56.

Logo & favicon (where the admin logo comes from)

Tools & Settings → Logo & Favicon uploads three brand files: logo (admin panel), logo_web (public site) and favicon. The controller stores them in public/assets/images/ as <timestamp>_<field>.<ext> and saves the relative path (e.g. assets/images/1712345678_logo.png) into the matching settings column. Every layout then renders the admin logo with asset($settings->logo) — so replacing the file here is all it takes to rebrand the header. Display size is controlled by thumb_w/thumb_h (admin) and thumb_web/thumb_hweb (public); the favicon help text recommends 45 × 45 px. After a save the controller runs Cache::forget('settings:row') and view:clear so the new logo shows instantly. See Branding & Customization for the full rebranding walkthrough.

Taxes & fees

Tools & Settings → Taxes & Fees (/admin/tools/settings/taxes) defines the money defaults pre-filled on new shipments and packages:

Tracking number prefixes

Tools & Settings → Tracking & Invoice controls how tracking numbers are generated. Prefixes are limited to 20 characters and digit lengths to 1–10. Exact keys and seeded values (from database/seeders/SettingsSeeder.php):

Shipping statuses

Catalog Management → Shipping Statuses edits the styles table: each row has a status name (mod_style), a description and a hex color used for badges and timelines. You can freely rename labels, rewrite descriptions and change colors — the internal code column stays locked to the system key, and rows with a system code cannot be deleted (the controller answers “System statuses cannot be deleted. Rename the label instead.”). Saving flushes the ShipmentStatus label cache so filters pick up the new name. System statuses seeded with their colors:

Catalog: warehouses, agencies, couriers & lists

Simple CRUD lists that feed the shipment forms and the Default Shipping Info screen. All are reached from the Tools landing page:

General Settings → Default Shipping Info then picks one row from each list (logistics_default1 category, packaging_default2, courier_default3, service_default4 shipping mode, time_default5 delivery time, pay_default6 gateway, payment_default7 payment method, status_default8 status) to pre-fill the Create Shipment form. The default status cannot be Delivered or Consolidate.

Payment gateways & payment methods

Payment & Finance → Payment Gateways manages six rows in the met_payment table: cash, paypal, stripe, paystack, wire and cod. Each row has an is_active switch on the list (toggling it POSTs instantly) and a Configure page. Credentials per gateway: PayPal stores paypal_client_id + secret_key; Stripe and Paystack store public_key + secret_key; Wire, Cash and COD have no keys — the instructions/bank-details field is saved into public_key. The seeder ships cash, wire and COD active, the online gateways inactive until you add keys.

Payment Methods is a different concept: order payment terms in the payment_methods table — a label plus days (net terms, 0–365). Seeded rows are Prepaid (0), Postpaid 15/30/60 day and Payment on delivery. Row ID 1 is protected and cannot be edited or deleted.

The buyer-facing setup walkthrough (accounts, keys, webhooks, go-live checklist) is on the Payment Gateways page.

Communications

Email Settings (/admin/tools/settings/email): choose mailer PHP or SMTP, then smtp_names (sender name), email_address, smtp_host, smtp_user, smtp_password (left blank = keep current), smtp_port and smtp_secure (tls or ssl).

Email Templates: one row per event (welcome, shipment created, shipment update, package shipped/delivered, payment received, pre-alert, pickup, consolidation…). Each template has a name, subject, help note, HTML body, optional logo (stored under storage/email-templates/logos on the public disk), an Active switch, and Send to Roles checkboxes for customer, admin, driver and warehouse. Bodies use {curly} placeholders that are filled at send time — common ones: {user_name}, {tracking_number}, {order_id}, {status}, {datetime}, {amount}, {currency}, {gateway}, {transaction_id}, {link}, {site_name}. Never edit the text inside the braces. The same editor pattern applies to SMS Templates and WhatsApp Templates (plain-text bodies, same placeholders).

SMS Settings stores Twilio credentials (twilio_sms_sid, twilio_sms_token, twilio_sms_number) plus an Enable SMS switch (active_sms). WhatsApp Settings stores an API URL (api_ws_url), token and number plus active_whatsapp; the URL is normalized to end with /. Push Templates and FCM / Push Settings control notifications: enable FCM (fcm_active), paste the Firebase service account JSON (fcm_service_account), optionally record a Sender ID (fcm_sender_id), then hit Test Connection — it POSTs to /api/tools/fcm/test and sends a real HTTP v1 push to the first active device token. A VAPID / web-push certificate is not used. Full Firebase project setup is on the Firebase & Push page.

Email (SMTP) setup

Open Tools & Settings → Email Settings. Pick the Default Mailer (SMTP is recommended for production), then fill the From email address and Sender name used on every outgoing email. Under SMTP Configuration enter your server's host, port (587 with TLS is the common choice), encryption, username and password — for Gmail/Workspace that is an app password, not the mailbox password. Save, then use the day-one Test SMTP step below to confirm delivery before relying on notifications.

SMS (Twilio) setup

Open Tools & Settings → SMS Settings and switch Enable SMS to Yes. Paste your Twilio SID and auth token from the Twilio console, and the Twilio number as the sender in E.164 format (e.g. +14155238886). SMS notifications then use the SMS templates under Tools → SMS Templates. Twilio is a third-party service and bills each message on your own account.

Locations

Logistics & Locations → Countries / States / Cities manage the countries, states and cities tables. Countries matter twice: they populate address selects, and each row carries currency + currency_symbol, which is exactly what the General Settings currency picker reads. Country rows also have an active/inactive toggle. States belong to a country; cities belong to a state.

Users, roles & permissions

Access Control → Roles / Permissions controls what each admin user sees. A role has a slug-style name (lowercase letters, digits, hyphens), a display name, and a checkbox matrix of permissions grouped by module (groups come from config('permissions.groups')). Permissions such as tools.settings.manage, tools.catalogs.manage, tools.payment-gateways.manage or manage.roles gate both the Tools links and their routes — a user without the permission gets the “You do not have access to any tools” notice on the Tools page.

Day-one configuration checklist