Foundation for the AI chatbot + text generation feature. Phase 1 is infrastructure only: driver plumbing, configuration storage with encrypted API keys, global vs per-company resolution, admin + company UI pages, and an optional installer wizard step. The chat assistant and text-generation WYSIWYG integration come in later phases.
**Driver plumbing (app/Support/Ai/)** — AiDriver abstract, AiDriverFactory, AiException, AiChatResponse DTO, OpenRouterDriver concrete implementation. OpenRouter is the OpenAI-compatible aggregator that unlocks hundreds of models behind one API key and one request shape — ideal as the default v1 driver. Drivers are extensible the same way exchange rate drivers are: the module Registry's generic registerDriver('ai', ...) machinery plus a typed Registry::registerAiDriver() convenience wrapper (shipped in the upstream invoiceshelf/modules package in a paired commit).
**AiConfigurationService** — mirrors MailConfigurationService shape but with one deliberate deviation: API keys are encrypted at the service layer via Crypt::encryptString before persistence. OpenRouter bearer tokens have much bigger blast radius than SMTP passwords. Same settings / company_settings tables, same global-vs-per-company pattern, same use_custom_ai_config override toggle. Resolution order: global ai_enabled must be YES, then the company either overrides via use_custom_ai_config=YES (and can opt out with ai_enabled=NO inside the override) or inherits the global config.
**Controllers** — Admin/Settings/AiConfigurationController (global CRUD + driver list + test connection), Company/Settings/CompanyAiConfigurationController (per-company override + test), Setup/AiConfigurationController (installer wizard step, skippable with explicit ai_enabled=NO). API key is always masked as '********' in GET responses — the frontend submits the placeholder back on save and the backend preserves the stored value.
**Installer wizard** — new optional step 7 'AI' between Mail and Account. Default OFF with a Skip button. MailView.vue now routes to installation.ai instead of installation.account; installation.ai then routes to installation.account. Step order comment updated in routes.ts.
**Admin + Company settings pages** — AdminAiConfigView (no toggle, always global) and AiConfigView (with use_custom_ai_config BaseSwitchSection that auto-saves OFF). Both share AiConfigurationForm which renders the driver selector, API key input with show/hide, driver-specific config_fields (base_url for OpenRouter), and per-role enable toggles with free-text model inputs backed by a datalist of suggested models from driver metadata.
**Bootstrap endpoint** — adds an ai block to the response: { enabled, chat_enabled, text_generation_enabled }. All three are booleans resolved through AiConfigurationService::resolveForCompany(). Never leaks the API key. Frontend feature flags read from bootstrapData.ai to decide whether to show Phase 2/3 UI.
**Bouncer ability** 'manage ai config' added to SettingsPolicy, gated on isSuperAdmin() (same pattern as manage email config, manage pdf config).
**Tests** (22 new) — Unit: AiDriverFactory resolves built-in + Registry-contributed drivers, rejects unknown, merges availableDrivers. AiConfigurationService: encryption round-trip, resolution order (3 cases: global off, inherit global, override with company key, override with opt-out), makeDriver null/instance cases, listDrivers metadata. Feature: admin save + read with api key masking, preserve-on-placeholder behavior, company toggle ON/OFF semantics, bootstrap ai flags reflect resolution, company opt-out path.
372 tests pass (was 350, +22). Pint clean. npm run build clean. Phase 2 (chat assistant + tool calling) and Phase 3 (WYSIWYG text generation popup) are separate follow-up commits — this one is the foundation only.
* Convert string references to `::class`
PHP 5.5.9 adds the new static `class` property which provides the fully qualified class name. This is preferred over using strings for class names since the `class` property references are checked by PHP.
* Use Faker methods
Accessing Faker properties was deprecated in Faker 1.14.
* Convert route options to fluent methods
Laravel 8 adopts the tuple syntax for controller actions. Since the old options array is incompatible with this syntax, Shift converted them to use modern, fluent methods.
* Adopt class based routes
* Remove default `app` files
* Shift core files
* Streamline config files
* Set new `ENV` variables
* Default new `bootstrap/app.php`
* Re-register HTTP middleware
* Consolidate service providers
* Re-register service providers
* Re-register routes
* Re-register scheduled commands
* Bump Composer dependencies
* Use `<env>` tags for configuration
`<env>` tags have a lower precedence than system environment variables making it easier to overwrite PHPUnit configuration values in additional environments, such a CI.
Review this blog post for more details on configuration precedence when testing Laravel: https://jasonmccreary.me/articles/laravel-testing-configuration-precedence/
* Adopt anonymous migrations
* Rename `password_resets` table
* Convert `$casts` property to method
* Adopt Laravel type hints
* Mark base controller as `abstract`
* Remove `CreatesApplication` testing trait
* Shift cleanup
* Fix shift first issues
* Updating Rules for laravel 11, sanctum config and pint
* Fix Carbon issue on dashboard
* Temporary fix for tests while migration is issue fixed on laravel side
* Carbon needs numerical values, not strings
* Minimum php version
* Fix domain installation step not fetching the correct company_id
* Fix Role Policy wasn't properly registered
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