Database & Eloquent›Core· 45 min read

CRUD with Eloquent

Create, read, update and delete records with stunningly simple code — the core of any app.

What you will learn

Perform full CRUD with Eloquent
Wire it into controller methods
Build a resource

CRUD, the Eloquent way

CRUD stands for the four things every database app does: Create, Read, Update and Delete. Here are all four with Eloquent — notice how short each one is:

Full CRUD with Eloquent

// CREATE
$product = Product::create([
    'name' => $request->input('name'),
    'price' => $request->input('price'),
]);

// READ
$all = Product::all();
$one = Product::find($id);

// UPDATE
$product = Product::find($id);
$product->price = 999;
$product->save();

// DELETE
Product::find($id)->delete();

Going block by block: CREATE — Product::create([...]) makes a brand-new row from the submitted values and saves it in one step. READ — Product::all() gets every product, while Product::find($id) gets one by its id. UPDATE — you first find the record, change a property like $product->price = 999, then call $product->save() to write the change. DELETE — Product::find($id)->delete() finds the record and removes it. That is the entire lifecycle of a record.

Let us follow one real product all the way through, with actual values:

The same four steps with a real "Keyboard" product

// CREATE a real product
$p = Product::create(['name' => 'Keyboard', 'price' => 499]);
echo $p->id;        // 1   (Laravel gives the new row an id)

// READ it back
$found = Product::find(1);
echo $found->name;  // Keyboard

// UPDATE its price
$found->price = 599;
$found->save();     // the price in the database is now 599

// DELETE it
Product::find(1)->delete();   // the Keyboard row is gone

Note: Output: 1 Keyboard We created a Keyboard for 499, Laravel gave it id 1, we read its name back, raised its price to 599, then deleted it — the full create-read-update-delete journey of one record.

The four CRUD steps, in the order an app uses them:

Create a record from user input with Product::create([...]).
Read records back with Product::all() (many) or Product::find($id) (one).
Update a record by finding it, changing a property, and calling save().
Delete a record with find($id)->delete() when it is no longer needed.

Compare this to the raw PDO prepared statements you wrote — Eloquent does the same safely, in a fraction of the code.

Note: For create() to work, list the allowed fields in the model’s $fillable array (e.g. protected $fillable = ['name', 'price'];) — a safety feature called mass-assignment protection.

Tip: Laravel can generate all CRUD routes at once with a resource controller: php artisan make:controller ProductController --resource plus Route::resource('products', ProductController::class).

Q. Which Eloquent call creates a new record?

Answer: Product::create([...]) builds and saves a new record (the fields must be in the model’s $fillable array).

✍️ Practice

Build create, read, update and delete using Eloquent in a controller.
Wire each to a route and a Blade view.

🏠 Homework

Build full CRUD for a “tasks” resource with Eloquent.