| name | laravel:eloquent-relationships |
| description | Define clear relationships and load data efficiently; prevent N+1, use constraints, counts/sums, and pivot syncing safely |
Eloquent Relationships and Loading
Model relationships express your domain; load only what you need.
Commands
# Typical loading
Post::with(['author', 'tags'])->withCount('comments')->paginate(20);
# Constrained eager loading
User::with(['posts' => fn($q) => $q->latest()->where('published', true)])->find($id);
# Pivot ops (many-to-many)
$post->tags()->sync([1,2,3]); // atomic replace
$post->tags()->syncWithoutDetaching([4]);
# Chunking large reads
Order::where('status', 'open')->lazy()->each(fn($o) => ...);
Patterns
- See
laravel:performance-eager-loading for N+1 detection and measurement
- Use
whereHas() / has() to filter by related existence
- Prefer
withCount, withSum, withMax for simple aggregates
- Apply global / local scopes for recurring constraints
- Keep relationship names consistent and pluralized where appropriate
- Laravel 13+: serialized Eloquent collections (e.g., in queued jobs) now restore eager-loaded relations after deserialization, matching single-model behavior — don't rely on relations being absent
- Laravel 13+: model-level attributes like
#[DateFormat('Y-m-d')] and #[WithoutTimestamps] are available (see laravel:php-attributes)
