Name: Mini DataTables
Author: Crushjs

On this page

A lightweight server-side DataTables package for Laravel, inspired by Yajra DataTables.

Features

Class-based tables with php artisan make:datatable
Server-side search, sorting and pagination
Works with the bundled vanilla JS table or DataTables.net
Bring your own front-end assets (CDN, self-hosted or Vite) via config
Output is HTML-escaped by default, with opt-in raw columns
Fluent JSON API (MiniDataTables::of(...)) for custom endpoints
Laravel auto-discovery

Requirements

PHP 8.2+
Laravel 10, 11, 12 or 13

Installation

bash

composer require crushjs/mini-datatables

Publish the bundled CSS/JS (needed for the default style):

bash

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=mini-datatables-assets

Optionally publish the config file:

bash

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=mini-datatables-config

Class-based tables

1. Create a table

bash

php artisan make:datatable UserDataTable
php artisan make:datatable Admin/PostDataTable --model=Post
php artisan make:datatable UserDataTable --force   # overwrite an existing class

This creates app/DataTables/UserDataTable.php:

php

namespace App\DataTables;

use App\Models\User;
use Crushjs\MiniDataTables\MiniDataTable;

class UserDataTable extends MiniDataTable
{
    public function query()
    {
        return User::query();
    }

    public function columns()
    {
        return [
            ['data' => 'id', 'title' => 'ID'],
            ['data' => 'name', 'title' => 'Name'],
            ['data' => 'email', 'title' => 'Email', 'orderable' => false],
        ];
    }
}

Column options:

Key	Default	Description
`data`	—	Database column / JSON key
`title`	`data`	Header text
`searchable`	`true`	Include the column in the global search
`orderable`	`true`	Allow sorting by clicking the header

Set searchable and orderable to false for columns that are not real database columns.

Optional properties:

php

protected $style = 'datatables';     // default: config('mini-datatables.style')
protected $maxLength = 50;           // default: config('mini-datatables.max_length')
protected $rawColumns = ['action'];  // columns returned as HTML (not escaped)
protected $tableId = 'users-table';  // default: kebab-cased class name

2. Controller

php

use App\DataTables\UserDataTable;

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function index(UserDataTable $datatable)
    {
        $datatable->style('datatables'); // optional

        if (request()->ajax()) {
            return $datatable->ajax();
        }

        return $datatable->render('users.index');
    }
}

3. Blade view

blade

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Users</title>
    {!! $datatable->styles() !!}
</head>
<body>
    {!! $datatable->table() !!}

    {!! $datatable->scripts() !!}
</body>
</html>

Each table gets its own id, so you can show several tables on one page.

Security

Search conditions are grouped, so scopes in query() (e.g. where('company_id', ...)) are always respected.
% and _ in search terms are matched literally.
Page size is capped by max_length.
Sorting only uses columns marked orderable.
All string values are HTML-escaped. List columns that intentionally contain HTML in $rawColumns, and make sure you escape any user data inside them yourself.

Configuration

config/mini-datatables.php:

php

return [
    'style' => 'default',
    'max_length' => 100,

    'styles' => [
        'default' => [
            'driver' => 'mini',
            'css' => ['vendor/mini-datatables/table.css'],
            'js' => ['vendor/mini-datatables/table.js'],
        ],

        'datatables' => [
            'driver' => 'datatables',
            'css' => [
                ['url' => 'https://cdn.datatables.net/2.3.8/css/dataTables.dataTables.css', 'integrity' => 'sha384-...'],
            ],
            'js' => [
                ['url' => 'https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js', 'integrity' => 'sha384-...'],
                ['url' => 'https://cdn.datatables.net/2.3.8/js/dataTables.js', 'integrity' => 'sha384-...'],
            ],
        ],
    ],
];

driver — mini (bundled JS) or datatables (DataTables.net, initialised for you).
css / js — files printed by styles() / scripts(). Each entry is a URL string, or an array with url and optional integrity / crossorigin (Subresource Integrity). Relative paths go through asset(); full URLs are used as-is.
If you change a CDN version, update or remove its integrity hash, otherwise the browser will block the file.

Avoiding conflicts with your own scripts

Already loading jQuery? Remove the jQuery entry. Loading jQuery twice replaces window.jQuery and drops any plugins (Select2, etc.) registered on the first copy.
Several tables on one page? Each asset URL is printed only once per request, and each table is initialised only once.
Vite / npm? Set css and js to [] and expose jQuery globally in your bundle (window.$ = window.jQuery = $ and import 'datatables.net'). The init script waits for DOMContentLoaded and uses window.jQuery, so it works with deferred module scripts and with jQuery.noConflict().
Content Security Policy? If your app calls Vite::useCspNonce(), the same nonce is added to every tag the package prints.

Use your own assets (npm / Vite / self-hosted)

If you already load jQuery and DataTables yourself, empty the lists and only the init script is printed:

php

'datatables' => [
    'driver' => 'datatables',
    'css' => [],
    'js' => [],
],

Add another theme

php

'bootstrap5' => [
    'driver' => 'datatables',
    'css' => ['https://cdn.datatables.net/2.3.8/css/dataTables.bootstrap5.css'],
    'js' => [
        'https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js',
        'https://cdn.datatables.net/2.3.8/js/dataTables.js',
        'https://cdn.datatables.net/2.3.8/js/dataTables.bootstrap5.js',
    ],
],

php

$datatable->style('bootstrap5');

Fluent JSON API

For custom JSON endpoints, use MiniDataTables::of() (or the MiniTable facade). It works with Eloquent and DB::table() queries.

php

use App\Models\User;
use Crushjs\MiniDataTables\MiniDataTables;

Route::get('/users', function () {
    return MiniDataTables::of(User::query())
        ->search(['name', 'email'])      // reads ?search=
        ->sort(['id', 'name'])           // reads ?sort=name&direction=asc
        ->paginate(10)                   // reads ?page=
        ->addColumn('action', fn ($user) => '<button>Edit</button>')
        ->editColumn('name', fn ($user) => strtoupper($user->name))
        ->rawColumns(['action'])
        ->make();
});

Search

php

->search('name')                    // value from ?search=
->search(['name', 'email'])         // any of these columns
->search('name', 'john')            // explicit value

Sort

php

->sort()                            // ?sort=id, default: id desc
->sort(['id', 'name', 'email'])     // allowed columns; the first one is the default
->sort(['created_at'], 'asc')       // default direction

Only columns in the list can be sorted by ?sort=; anything else falls back to the default.

Response

json

{
  "data": [
    { "id": 1, "name": "JOHN", "action": "<button>Edit</button>" }
  ],
  "meta": { "current_page": 1, "last_page": 3, "per_page": 10, "total": 25 }
}

meta is only included when paginate() is used.

Local development

bash

git clone https://github.com/crushjs/mini-datatables.git
cd mini-datatables
composer install
composer test

To try it inside a Laravel app, add a path repository to the app's composer.json:

json

"repositories": [
    { "type": "path", "url": "../mini-datatables" }
]

bash

composer require crushjs/mini-datatables:@dev

Package structure

txt

mini-datatables/
├── config/mini-datatables.php
├── resources/
│   ├── css/table.css
│   ├── js/table.js
│   └── views/table.blade.php
├── src/
│   ├── Concerns/
│   ├── Console/MakeDataTableCommand.php
│   ├── Facades/MiniTable.php
│   ├── Html/Builder.php
│   ├── MiniDataTable.php
│   ├── MiniDataTables.php
│   └── MiniDataTablesServiceProvider.php
└── tests/

Roadmap

Multi-column sorting in the bundled JS
Export CSV / Excel
API Resources
Vue / React support

Screenshots

Table UI

License

MIT — Crushjs