Eloquent Best Practices

iSerter/laravel-claude-agents/skills/eloquent-best-practices

by iSerter8868214ee3fe0eee4e865dd07dbb9832a05b6ddcNo licenseListed Oct 9, 2026Updated Oct 9, 2026

Best practices for Laravel Eloquent ORM including query optimization, relationship management, and avoiding common pitfalls like N+1 queries.

Instructions onlySoftware Development
AI-generated overview

Guidance on Laravel Eloquent ORM best practices for query optimization, relationships, and avoiding N+1 queries.

What it does
This skill provides reference guidance and code examples for writing efficient Laravel Eloquent ORM code. It covers eager loading, column selection, query scopes, relationship return types, withCount, mass assignment protection, casts, chunking, database-level operations, model events, indexes, and lazy loading prevention. It produces explanatory snippets and a checklist rather than executable scripts.
When to use it
Use it when working with Laravel Eloquent models and queries, especially to optimize performance, fix N+1 query issues, or review relationship and mass assignment patterns. It is also useful as a checklist during code review of Eloquent-based code.
Requirements
No scripts or special tools are required; it is instructions and code examples only. A Laravel project with Eloquent is the assumed context.

Eloquent Best Practices

Query Optimization

Always Eager Load Relationships

php
// ❌ N+1 Query Problem$posts = Post::all();foreach ($posts as $post) {    echo $post->user->name; // N additional queries}
// ✅ Eager Loading$posts = Post::with('user')->get();foreach ($posts as $post) {    echo $post->user->name; // No additional queries}

Select Only Needed Columns

php
// ❌ Fetches all columns$users = User::all();
// ✅ Only needed columns$users = User::select(['id', 'name', 'email'])->get();
// ✅ With relationships$posts = Post::with(['user:id,name'])->select(['id', 'title', 'user_id'])->get();

Use Query Scopes

php
// ✅ Define reusable query logicclass Post extends Model{    public function scopePublished($query)    {        return $query->where('status', 'published')                    ->whereNotNull('published_at');    }        public function scopePopular($query, $threshold = 100)    {        return $query->where('views', '>', $threshold);    }}
// Usage$posts = Post::published()->popular()->get();

Relationship Best Practices

Define Return Types

php
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsTo;use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany;
class Post extends Model{    public function user(): BelongsTo    {        return $this->belongsTo(User::class);    }        public function comments(): HasMany    {        return $this->hasMany(Comment::class);    }}

Use withCount for Counts

php
// ❌ Triggers additional queriesforeach ($posts as $post) {    echo $post->comments()->count();}
// ✅ Load counts efficiently$posts = Post::withCount('comments')->get();foreach ($posts as $post) {    echo $post->comments_count;}

Mass Assignment Protection

php
class Post extends Model{    // ✅ Whitelist fillable attributes    protected $fillable = ['title', 'content', 'status'];        // Or blacklist guarded attributes    protected $guarded = ['id', 'user_id'];        // ❌ Never do this    // protected $guarded = [];}

Use Casts for Type Safety

php
class Post extends Model{    protected $casts = [        'published_at' => 'datetime',        'metadata' => 'array',        'is_featured' => 'boolean',        'views' => 'integer',    ];}

Chunking for Large Datasets

php
// ✅ Process in chunks to save memoryPost::chunk(200, function ($posts) {    foreach ($posts as $post) {        // Process each post    }});
// ✅ Or use lazy collectionsPost::lazy()->each(function ($post) {    // Process one at a time});

Database-Level Operations

php
// ❌ Slow - loads into memory first$posts = Post::where('status', 'draft')->get();foreach ($posts as $post) {    $post->update(['status' => 'archived']);}
// ✅ Fast - single queryPost::where('status', 'draft')->update(['status' => 'archived']);
// ✅ Increment/decrementPost::where('id', $id)->increment('views');

Use Model Events Wisely

php
class Post extends Model{    protected static function booted()    {        static::creating(function ($post) {            $post->slug = Str::slug($post->title);        });                static::deleting(function ($post) {            $post->comments()->delete();        });    }}

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Don't Query in Loops

php
// ❌ Badforeach ($userIds as $id) {    $user = User::find($id);}
// ✅ Good$users = User::whereIn('id', $userIds)->get();

Don't Forget Indexes

php
// MigrationSchema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {    $table->id();    $table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained()->index();    $table->string('slug')->unique();    $table->string('status')->index();    $table->timestamp('published_at')->nullable()->index();        // Composite index for common queries    $table->index(['status', 'published_at']);});

Prevent Lazy Loading in Development

php
// In AppServiceProvider boot methodModel::preventLazyLoading(!app()->isProduction());

Checklist

  • Relationships eagerly loaded where needed
  • Only selecting required columns
  • Using query scopes for reusability
  • Mass assignment protection configured
  • Appropriate casts defined
  • Indexes on foreign keys and query columns
  • Using database-level operations when possible
  • Chunking for large datasets
  • Model events used appropriately
  • Lazy loading prevented in development

Source and attribution

Source:iSerter/laravel-claude-agentsinskills/eloquent-best-practicesat commit8868214

License: No license

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

Report or request removal

More in Software Development

Playground

anthropics

Featured

Builds self-contained interactive HTML playgrounds with controls, live preview, and copyable prompt output.

Software Development37Kupdated today

M5 Onboard

anthropics

Featured

Provisions M5Stack ESP32 boards by detecting them on USB, flashing UIFlow 2.0 firmware, and installing a MicroPython app bundle.

Software Development37Kupdated today

Cardputer Buddy

anthropics

Featured

Guides iterating on a Cardputer-Adv MicroPython app bundle: adding apps, pushing files over USB-serial, tailing logs, and running REPL commands.

Software Development37Kupdated today

Web Design Guidelines

vercel-labs

Featured

Reviews UI code against Web Interface Guidelines fetched from a remote source and reports findings as file:line entries.

Software Development32Kupdated 5 weeks ago

Vercel React Native Skills

vercel-labs

Featured

React Native and Expo best-practice rules covering list performance, animation, navigation, UI patterns, state, and monorepo setup.

Software Development32Kupdated 5 weeks ago

Vercel React Best Practices

vercel-labs

Featured

Vercel's React and Next.js performance guidelines, organized as 70 rules for writing, reviewing, and refactoring code.

Software Development32Kupdated 5 weeks ago