Provider Exchange

Provider Exchange is an early Laravel prototype for a provider-centered field service network and work-order exchange.

The code is intended to be open source under the MIT License.

Project record keeping lives in:

• CHANGELOG.md for shipped changes, verification notes, and unusual commit/history notes.
• docs/ROADMAP.md for the current build direction and deferred features.
• Git for rollback and branch history.

The .old backup convention is not used for routine Laravel edits in this project. Use Git for normal recovery. Create a local .old copy only before risky manual rewrites, legacy file replacement, or generated artifact recovery where a second local copy is useful before editing.

The product goal is not to clone Field Nation. The first version focuses on:

• provider and buyer profiles;
• community posts;
• buyer job posts;
• provider quotes;
• work-order assignment and status tracking;
• mutual reviews;
• peer-review dispute records;
• external profile/rating snapshots from Field Nation, WorkMarket, and similar platforms.

Guardrails

• The platform does not hold money in v1.
• The platform does not set or recommend market rates.
• Providers control their own rate cards and terms.
• Buyers control their own posted offer terms.
• Payment remains direct between buyer and provider unless a compliant payment partner is added later.
• Reputation is mutual: providers review buyers and buyers review providers.
• Dispute records are reputational/peer-review records, not legal adjudication.

Local Setup

composer install
npm install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
touch database/database.sqlite
php artisan migrate:fresh --seed
php artisan storage:link
npm run build
php artisan serve --host=0.0.0.0 --port=8123

Server Install

See docs/INSTALL.md for the first-pass Ubuntu/Nginx installer and update script.

Demo Accounts

All seeded demo accounts use password password.

• admin@example.com
• provider@example.com
• buyer@example.com
• hybrid@example.com

Test Commands

php artisan test
npm run build

Current Roadmap Status

See docs/ROADMAP.md for the durable roadmap. The short status below is a convenience snapshot.

1. Foundation: Laravel app, auth, roles, seeded demo users.
2. Profiles: provider and buyer profiles.
3. Social layer: community feed posts.
4. Job posts: buyer job-post creation and listing.
5. Quote flow: provider quotes and buyer acceptance.
6. Work orders: assignment, role-aware status transitions, deliverables, messages, evidence files, completion notes.
7. Reviews: mutual buyer/provider reviews with category metrics.
8. Disputes: peer-review dispute records with comments, evidence files, and structured votes.
9. API prep: Sanctum installed with starter API routes and authenticated work-order/dispute feeds.
10. Hardening: tests, seed data, setup docs, database notifications, admin overview, and no-payment/no-rate-setting guardrails.

Implemented Hardening Pass

• Polymorphic attachments for provider profiles, buyer profiles, feed posts, jobs, work orders, disputes, and imported external profiles.
• Polymorphic comments for feed posts, jobs, and disputes.
• Work-order messages between buyer and provider.
• Quote revision history and quote decline flow.
• Role-aware work-order transition rules.
• Category review metrics for communication, scope accuracy, payment reliability, workmanship, and timeliness.
• Dispute peer votes with provider/buyer/split/insufficient-evidence recommendations.
• Database notifications for quote, work-order, review, and dispute events.
• Admin overview page for users, jobs, work orders, disputes, and attachment counts.

External Profile Imports

Provider profiles support manual external snapshots. For Field Nation, the first version records:

• platform name;
• external provider ID;
• profile URL if available;
• rating;
• review count;
• completed jobs;
• notes or copied review summaries.

Public search did not expose a Field Nation profile for provider ID 172-630, so any automated Field Nation import should be treated as a later authenticated/export-assisted workflow rather than a public scrape assumption.