Feature: #107289 - Automatic history tracking for Extbase entities

Description

TYPO3 now tracks the history of all Extbase domain entities by listening to Extbase persistence events and storing them in the sys_history table. This provides a comprehensive audit trail for all frontend and backend operations on Extbase entities without requiring any code changes.

The feature leverages TYPO3's existing \RecordHistoryStore infrastructure and integrates seamlessly with the backend record history functionality.

The history tracking captures:

Create operations: when entities are persisted for the first time
Update operations: when existing entities are modified
Delete operations: when entities are removed from persistence

All operations are tracked with their proper user context (frontend users, backend users, anonymous operations) and include full entity data snapshots.

Configuration

History tracking is disabled by default. It can be enabled with the feature toggle extbase.enableHistoryTracking (available via System > Settings > Feature toggles).

Once the feature toggle is enabled, history tracking is active for all Extbase domain model storage tables. It can then be disabled via TCA on a per-table basis:

EXT:my_extension/Configuration/TCA/tx_myextension_domain_model_blog.php

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

return [
    'ctrl' => [
        'title' => 'my_extension.messages:my_title',
        'label' => 'uid',
        'tstamp' => 'tstamp',
        'crdate' => 'crdate',
        'delete' => 'deleted',
        // ...
        'extbase' => [
            'enableHistoryTracking' => false,
        ],
    ],
    'columns' => [
        // ...
    ],
];

Defining this at the TCA level (instead of TypoScript persistence configuration) means that it can be configured per table and evaluated consistently in all contexts (backend, frontend, CLI).

If a third-party extension enables history tracking via TCA, it can be disabled using TCA overrides. Disabling the feature toggle also disables all history tracking, even for tables configured with enableHistoryTracking => true.

In addition, the following PSR-14 event listeners can be deregistered or replaced at instance level:

extbase-history-tracker-persisted
extbase-history-tracker-updated
extbase-history-tracker-removed

Note

Enabling history tracking can generate a large number of history entries for Extbase entities. These entries are mixed with regular editorial changes made in the TYPO3 backend (FormEngine).

Important

All changes to Extbase entity data are logged, including full initial data snapshots. This may have implications for GDPR / DSGVO and other security-related data handling requirements. Data may need to be pruned regularly. It is advisable to disable history tracking for tables containing sensitive data. For this reason, the feature toggle is disabled by default and requires explicit activation.

Impact

Changes to all Extbase domain entities can now be tracked in the sys_history table, making them visible in the backend record history. This requires enabling the feature toggle extbase.enableHistoryTracking (default: false).

This feature provides administrators and developers with full visibility into data changes without requiring interface implementations or code modifications.

Technical details

The implementation consists of a PSR-14 event listener ExtbaseHistoryTracker which automatically registers for the following Extbase persistence events:

EntityAddedToPersistenceEvent
EntityUpdatedInPersistenceEvent
EntityRemovedFromPersistenceEvent

All entities with valid TCA configuration are tracked automatically. This uses the Extbase DataMap API, TCA Schema API, and RecordHistoryStore API.