How to disable Laravel console commands

Suppose you find yourself in a situation where you need to disable or intercept a console command in Laravel. This tutorial will primarily focus on how to intercept the php artisan migrate command. We'll delve into the command method app/Console/Kernel.php and explore how to prevent the migrate command from executing any actions.

Inside the command method of app/Console/Kernel.php

In Laravel 11 use routes/console.php

Intercept command

You can intercept php artisan migrate and, instead, catch it and use a closure.

Artisan::command('migrate', function () {
    //
});

This would essentially stop the migrate command from doing anything.

You could then print a message out:

Artisan::command('migrate', function () {
    $this->info('Command NOT AVAILABLE. Use this: php artisan app:migrate');
});

Running an alternative command:

To run a different command:

Artisan::command('migrate', function () {
    $this->call('app:migrate');
});

In this case, a new command called app:migrate would be executed.

Run command with a --path option:

Artisan::command('migrate', function () {
    $this->call('app:migrate', [
        '--path' => 'database/migrations'
    ]);
});

Now when running php artisan migrate you will get an error:

The "--path" option does not exist.

The reason for this is the custom command does not have a path option. Lets create the command and add the option.

Create a command:

php artisan make:command AppMigrate

This creates a class called AppMigrate.php inside app/Console/Commands

Change the signature to be app:migrate

<?php

namespace App\Console\Commands;

use Illuminate\Console\Command;

class AppMigrate extends Command
{
    /**
     * The name and signature of the console command.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    protected $signature = 'app:migrate';

    /**
     * The console command description.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    protected $description = 'Command description';

    /**
     * Execute the console command.
     */
    public function handle()
    {
        //
    }
}

Now for this command to accept a path change the signature to accept a path.

protected $signature = 'app:migrate {--path= : The path to the migrations}';

Then inside the handle method collect the path.

public function handle()
{
    $path = $this->option('path') ?? 'database/other-path/migrations';

    //rest of the logic ...
}