Gists for my simple laravel ACL article.

acl-group-permissions-migration.php

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;

class CreateAclGroupPermissionsTable extends Migration
{

    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function up()
    {
        Schema::create('acl_group_permissions', function ($table) {

            $table->integer('group_id', false);
            $table->integer('permission_id', false);

        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function down()
    {
        Schema::drop('acl_group_permissions');
    }

}

acl-groups-migration.php

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;

class CreateAclGroupsTable extends Migration
{

    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function up()
    {
        Schema::create('acl_groups', function ($table) {

            $table->increments('id');
            $table->string('name', 50);
            $table->string('description', 255);

        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function down()
    {
        Schema::drop('acl_groups');
    }

}

acl-permissions-migration.php

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;

class CreateAclPermissionsTable extends Migration
{

    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function up()
    {
        Schema::create('acl_permissions', function ($table) {

            $table->increments('id');
            $table->string('ident', 255);
            $table->string('description', 255);

        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function down()
    {
        Schema::drop('acl_permissions');
    }

}

acl-user-groups-migration.php

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;

class CreateAclUserGroupsTable extends Migration
{

    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function up()
    {
        Schema::create('acl_user_groups', function ($table) {

            $table->integer('user_id', false);
            $table->integer('group_id', false);

        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function down()
    {
        Schema::drop('acl_user_groups');
    }

}

artisan-group-permissions

php artisan migrate:make create_acl_group_permissions_table

artisan-groups

php artisan migrate:make create_acl_groups_table

artisan-migrate

php artisan migrate

artisan-permissions

php artisan migrate:make create_acl_permissions_table

artisan-user-groups

php artisan migrate:make create_acl_user_groups_table

filter.php

<?php

class AclPermittedFilter {

    public function filter($route, $request)
    {
        $permitted = false;
        
        $user = Auth::user();
        $user->load('groups', 'group.permissions');
        
        foreach($user->groups as $group) {
            if($group->permissions->has($route->getName())) {
                $permitted = true;
                break;
            }
        }
        
        if(!$permitted) {
            return Redirect::route('user.denied');
        }
    }

}

model-group.php

<?php

class AclGroup extends Eloquent {
	
	protected $table = 'acl_groups';
	
	protected $fillable = array(
		'name', 'description'
	);
	
	public $timestamps = false;
	
	public function users()
	{
	    return $this->belongsToMany('User', 'acl_user_groups');
	}
	
	public function permissions()
	{
	    return $this->belongsToMany('AclPermission', 'acl_group_permissions');
	}

}

model-permission.php

<?php

class AclPermission extends Eloquent {
	
	protected $table = 'acl_permissions';
	
	protected $fillable = array(
		'ident', 'description'
	);
	
	public $timestamps = false;
	
	public function groups()
	{
	    return $this->belongsToMany('AclGroup', 'acl_group_permissions');
	}
	
	public function getKey()
	{
	    return $this->attributes['ident'];
	}

}

routes-filtered.php

<?php

Route::filter('acl.permitted', 'AclPermittedFilter');

Route::group(array('prefix' => 'user'), function() {
  
    // other routes here
    Route::get('supersecret', array(
        'before'    => ['auth', 'acl.permitted'],
        'as'        => 'user.supersecret',
        'uses'      => 'UserController@supersecret'
    ))
    
});

routes.php

<?php

Route::group(array('prefix' => 'user'), function() {
  
    // for account registration
    Route::post('register', array(
        'as'    => 'user.register',
        'uses'  => 'UserController@register'
    ));
    
    // for authorising/logging in
    Route::post('authorise', array(
        'as'    => 'user.authorise',
        'uses'  => 'UserController@authorise'
    ));
    
    // check that a token is valid
    Route::get('validate', array(
        'as'    => 'user.validate',
        'uses'  => 'UserController@validate'
    ));
    
});

You miss " ; " at line 13 [ routes-filtered.php ]