CRUD Templates for Laravel

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Relationships ​

In addition to fields, CRUD Templates for Laravel also supports relationships. When you define a relationship field, the package automatically creates the necessary migration columns, relationship methods, and validation rules.

Relationships are declared along with fields, like below:

bash
php artisan crud:generate Post \
  --fields="title:string,content:text,published:boolean,category:belongsTo,author:belongsTo,tags:belongsToMany,comments:morphMany"

Related Models Must Exist

When generating relationships, the related models must already exist in the app/Models directory. For example, if you're creating a Post model with a category:belongsTo relationship, the Category model must be created first.

Relationship Types ​

belongsTo ​

Creates a many-to-one relationship. The current model belongs to another model.

Syntax:

bash
--fields="category:belongsTo"

Migration:

php
$table->foreignId('category_id')->constrained();

This creates:

  • A category_id column
  • A foreign key constraint to the categories table (note: the categories table must already exist)

Model Relationship:

php
public function category(): BelongsTo
{
    return $this->belongsTo(Category::class);
}

Validation:

php
'category_id' => ['required', 'exists:categories,id']

Example:

bash
php artisan crud:generate Post --fields="title:string,category:belongsTo"

Naming Convention

The field name determines the related model. A field named category will relate to the Category model and create a category_id column.

hasMany ​

Creates a one-to-many relationship. The current model has many of another model.

Syntax:

bash
--fields="posts:hasMany"

Migration: No migration column is created (the foreign key is on the related model).

Model Relationship:

php
public function posts(): HasMany
{
    return $this->hasMany(Post::class);
}

Example:

bash
php artisan crud:generate Category --fields="name:string,posts:hasMany"

belongsToMany ​

Creates a many-to-many relationship with a pivot table.

Syntax:

bash
--fields="tags:belongsToMany"

Migration: No migration column is created (requires a separate pivot table).

Model Relationship:

php
public function tags(): BelongsToMany
{
    return $this->belongsToMany(Tag::class);
}

Example:

bash
php artisan crud:generate Post --fields="title:string,content:text,tags:belongsToMany"

Pivot Table

You'll need to manually create the pivot table migration (e.g., post_tag). Follow Laravel's naming conventions: alphabetically ordered, singular model names.

morphTo ​

Creates a polymorphic relationship where the current model can belong to multiple other models.

Syntax:

bash
--fields="commentable:morphTo"

Migration:

php
$table->morphs('commentable');

This creates:

  • commentable_type column (string)
  • commentable_id column (unsignedBigInteger)

Model Relationship:

php
public function commentable(): MorphTo
{
    return $this->morphTo();
}

Example:

bash
php artisan crud:generate Comment --fields="body:text,commentable:morphTo"

morphMany ​

Creates a one-to-many polymorphic relationship where the current model has many of a polymorphic model.

Syntax:

bash
--fields="comments:morphMany"

Migration: No migration column is created.

Model Relationship:

php
public function comments(): MorphMany
{
    return $this->morphMany(Comment::class, 'commentable');
}

Example:

bash
php artisan crud:generate Post --fields="title:string,content:text,comments:morphMany"

morphToMany ​

Creates a many-to-many polymorphic relationship.

Syntax:

bash
--fields="tags:morphToMany"

Migration: No migration column is created.

Model Relationship:

php
public function tags(): MorphToMany
{
    return $this->morphToMany(Tag::class, 'taggable');
}

Example:

bash
php artisan crud:generate Post --fields="title:string,tags:morphToMany"

Custom Model Paths ​

By default, relationship field names determine the related model (e.g., category relates to Category model). You can specify a custom model with namespace depth using a third parameter:

Syntax:

bash
fieldName:relationshipType:Namespace/ModelName

The forward slash (/) separates namespace segments and maps to App\Models\Namespace\ModelName.

Supported relationship types:

  • belongsTo
  • hasMany
  • belongsToMany
  • morphMany
  • morphToMany

Examples:

bash
# Using default naming (field name determines model)
--fields="category:belongsTo"  # → App\Models\Category

# Using custom model path
--fields="category:belongsTo:Content/PostCategory"  # → App\Models\Content\PostCategory

# Multiple relationships with custom paths
php artisan crud:generate Post \
  --fields="category:belongsTo:Content/PostCategory,author:belongsTo:Users/Author,tags:belongsToMany:Taxonomy/Tag"

Real-world example:

bash
php artisan crud:generate Article \
  --fields="title:string,content:text,blog:belongsTo:Content/Blog,author:belongsTo:Users/Author,comments:morphMany:Social/Comment"

This creates relationships to:

  • App\Models\Content\Blog
  • App\Models\Users\Author
  • App\Models\Social\Comment

Nullable Relationships ​

Make a relationship optional by adding ?:

bash
php artisan crud:generate Post --fields="title:string,category?:belongsTo"

This makes the foreign key nullable:

php
$table->foreignId('category_id')->nullable()->constrained();

And updates validation:

php
'category_id' => ['nullable', 'exists:categories,id']

API Resources with Relationships ​

When relationships are defined, they're automatically included in the API resource:

php
public function toArray($request)
{
    return [
        'id' => $this->id,
        'title' => $this->title,
        'content' => $this->content,
        'category' => new CategoryResource($this->whenLoaded('category')),
        'tags' => TagResource::collection($this->whenLoaded('tags')),
        'created_at' => $this->created_at,
        'updated_at' => $this->updated_at,
    ];
}

Next Steps ​