Laravel Configuration Arrays Made Simpler with Config::collection()

Laravel 12 changed how you work with configuration arrays. The new Config::collection() method returns arrays as Collection instances directly, instead of needing to wrap them with collect().

Previously, you had to make two separate calls:

$services = collect(Config::array('services'));
$connections = collect(Config::array('database.connections'));

The new method eliminates this extra step:

$services = Config::collection('services');
$connections = Config::collection('database.connections');

This fits with Laravel's other typed config methods like Config::string() and Config::integer(). The difference is small but adds up when you're working with config arrays regularly.

Here's a notification system that processes different service configurations:

<?php
 
namespace App\Services;
 
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Config;
 
class NotificationManager
{
    public function getActiveChannels(): array
    {
        return Config::collection('notifications.channels')
            ->filter(fn($config) => $config['active'] === true)
            ->keys()
            ->toArray();
    }
 
    public function getChannelSettings(): array
    {
        return Config::collection('notifications.channels')
            ->mapWithKeys(fn($config, $name) => [$name => $config['settings'] ?? []])
            ->toArray();
    }
 
    public function validateChannelConfigs(): array
    {
        $problems = [];
 
        Config::collection('notifications.channels')->each(function($config, $name) use (&$problems) {
            if (empty($config['driver'])) {
                $problems[] = "Channel '{$name}' missing driver";
            }
            if (empty($config['webhook_url']) && $config['driver'] === 'webhook') {
                $problems[] = "Channel '{$name}' needs webhook URL";
            }
        });
 
        return $problems;
    }
}
 
class CacheManager
{
    public function getRedisConnections(): array
    {
        return Config::collection('cache.stores')
            ->filter(fn($config) => $config['driver'] === 'redis')
            ->keys()
            ->toArray();
    }
 
    public function getStoresByType(): array
    {
        return Config::collection('cache.stores')
            ->groupBy('driver')
            ->map(fn($group) => $group->keys()->toArray())
            ->toArray();
    }
}

The method works well when your config files have arrays of structured data. Here's a typical config file that benefits from collection methods:

return [
    'payment_providers' => [
        'stripe' => ['active' => true, 'test_mode' => false],
        'paypal' => ['active' => false, 'test_mode' => true],
        'square' => ['active' => true, 'test_mode' => true],
    ],
    'email_services' => [
        'ses' => ['active' => true, 'region' => 'us-east-1'],
        'mailgun' => ['active' => false, 'domain' => 'example.com'],
        'postmark' => ['active' => true, 'token' => 'abc123'],
    ],
];
 
class PaymentService
{
    public function getLiveProviders(): array
    {
        return Config::collection('services.payment_providers')
            ->filter(fn($config) => $config['active'] && !$config['test_mode'])
            ->keys()
            ->toArray();
    }
 
    public function countActiveProviders(): int
    {
        return Config::collection('services.payment_providers')
            ->filter(fn($config) => $config['active'])
            ->count();
    }
}

The change saves you from having to remember to wrap config arrays with collect(). It's a small improvement that makes config processing cleaner.