Laravel N Plus One Guard

N+1 Query Guard

Prevents the classic N+1 query explosion: code that loops over a collection of models and lazily reads a relationship, firing one query per row. It looks fine in dev with 5 rows and melts the database in production with 50,000.

The footgun

You load 100 posts in 1 query, then in a loop touch $post->author->name. Eloquent silently fires 100 more queries — one per post. Same for $post->comments->count() in a Blade @foreach, or an API Resource that reads $this->category without it being loaded. The query count scales with row count, so it is invisible in development (tiny tables) and catastrophic under production load: connection-pool exhaustion, p99 latency spikes, DB CPU pinned, request timeouts, and a pager going off. The fix is almost always cheap (one with(...)), but the bug is silent by default — Eloquent will happily lazy-load forever and never warn you. The real fix is to make lazy loading throw in dev/test so it can never reach prod.

Rules

1. Eager load every relation you will read. If a loop, Blade view, or Resource touches $model->relation, add it to the query: Post::with('author', 'comments')->get(). This collapses 1+N into 2 queries (one per relation level).
2. Eager load nested relations with dot syntax. Reading $post->comments[i]->author needs with('comments.author'), not just with('comments').
3. Constrain eager loads instead of filtering in PHP. Use with(['comments' => fn ($q) => $q->latest()->limit(5)]) rather than loading all comments and slicing — the constraint runs in SQL. Per-parent limit() on an eager load is honored natively in Laravel 11+ (window functions, formerly the staudenmeir/eloquent-eager-limit trait); on Laravel ≤10 a bare limit() caps the combined result set across all parents, so don't rely on it there.
4. On an already-fetched collection, use load() / loadMissing() to attach relations in a single extra query. loadMissing() is idempotent (skips relations already loaded); prefer it when unsure.
5. Count/aggregate with withCount / withSum / withAvg / withMax / withMin / withExists, never $model->relation->count() in a loop. withCount('comments') exposes $post->comments_count via a correlated subquery embedded in the parent SELECT (no extra query); calling ->count() on an unloaded relation lazy-loads every row first. On an already-fetched collection use the loadCount() / loadSum() equivalents.
6. Make lazy loading a LOUD error outside production. In AppServiceProvider::boot() call Model::preventLazyLoading(! $this->app->isProduction()). This converts every silent N+1 into a LazyLoadingViolationException you catch in dev and CI before it ships.
7. Prefer Model::shouldBeStrict() for new apps — it bundles preventLazyLoading(), preventSilentlyDiscardingAttributes(), and preventAccessingMissingAttributes(). Gate it on ! isProduction() so a missed eager load degrades gracefully (lazy-loads) in prod instead of 500-ing real users.
8. For large datasets, bound memory with lazy() / lazyById() / chunkById() — and keep the eager loads. Post::with('author')->lazy() streams in chunks AND eager-loads. Do NOT use cursor() if you access relations: cursor() runs a single query with no eager loading, so touching a relation reintroduces N+1.
9. In controllers/actions, eager load BEFORE handing models to API Resources. Resources are dumb mappers; they must not trigger queries.
10. In API Resources, gate relations with whenLoaded(). 'author' => new AuthorResource($this->whenLoaded('author')) omits the relation when it was not eager-loaded instead of silently lazy-loading it per item.
11. In Blade/Livewire/Filament, the relation must be loaded before the view. @foreach ($posts as $post) {{ $post->author->name }} N+1s unless $posts arrived with author. Filament tables that show relation columns must eager load via ->modifyQueryUsing(fn ($query) => $query->with('author')).
12. NEVER "fix" N+1 by adding an accessor that itself queries. An accessor like getAuthorNameAttribute() that runs User::find(...) just hides the N+1 inside the model. Eager load the relation instead.

Good vs bad

// ❌ N+1: 1 query for posts + 1 query PER post for the author = 1+N
$posts = Post::all();
foreach ($posts as $post) {
    echo $post->author->name;          // lazy-loads author every iteration
    echo $post->comments->count();     // lazy-loads ALL comments just to count
}

// ✅ 2 queries total regardless of post count
$posts = Post::with('author')->withCount('comments')->get();
foreach ($posts as $post) {
    echo $post->author->name;          // already loaded (1 batched eager-load query)
    echo $post->comments_count;        // correlated subquery baked into the posts SELECT — no extra query
}
// Query 1: SELECT posts.*, (SELECT COUNT(*) ... ) AS comments_count FROM posts
// Query 2: SELECT * FROM users WHERE id IN (...)   ← the with('author') eager load

// ❌ API Resource lazy-loads category + tags once per item in the collection
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;

class ProductResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'id'       => $this->id,
            'category' => new CategoryResource($this->category), // queries per item
            'tags'     => TagResource::collection($this->tags),  // queries per item
        ];
    }
}

// ✅ Resource only maps; relations are gated and must be eager-loaded by the caller
class ProductResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'id'       => $this->id,
            'category' => new CategoryResource($this->whenLoaded('category')),
            'tags'     => TagResource::collection($this->whenLoaded('tags')),
        ];
    }
}

// caller (controller/action) does the eager loading:
return ProductResource::collection(
    Product::with('category', 'tags')->paginate()
);

// ❌ cursor() with relation access = silent N+1 (cursor cannot eager load)
foreach (Order::cursor() as $order) {
    $total += $order->items->sum('price'); // one query PER order
}

// ✅ lazy() streams in chunks AND honors eager loads — bounded memory, no N+1
foreach (Order::with('items')->lazy() as $order) {
    $total += $order->items->sum('price'); // items already loaded
}

// ❌ "fix" that hides N+1 inside an accessor
class Post extends Model
{
    public function getAuthorNameAttribute(): string
    {
        return User::find($this->user_id)->name; // queries on every access
    }
}

// ✅ no querying accessor — eager load the real relation and read it
$posts = Post::with('author')->get();
foreach ($posts as $post) {
    echo $post->author->name; // already loaded, no query
}

How to verify

1. Enable strict mode in tests so any N+1 throws. In AppServiceProvider::boot():

   Model::preventLazyLoading(! $this->app->isProduction());
   

   Then run the suite — a lazy load now fails the test:

   ./vendor/bin/pest          # or: php artisan test
   

   A LazyLoadingViolationException on a previously green test is the smoking gun.

2. Assert query counts in a feature test for hot endpoints. The exact number is endpoint-specific (count the eager-load levels); the point is that it stays constant as you add rows — a growing count is the N+1:

   use App\Models\Post;
   use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
   
   Post::factory()->count(25)->create();
   
   DB::enableQueryLog();
   $this->getJson('/api/posts')->assertOk();
   
   // e.g. 1 posts query (with a withCount subselect) + 1 author eager-load = 2,
   // regardless of how many posts exist:
   expect(DB::getQueryLog())->toHaveCount(2); // NOT 1 + N
   

3. Grep for relation access inside loops with no preceding eager load:

   # Blade @foreach bodies touching a relation arrow on the loop var
   grep -rn "@foreach" resources/views | head
   grep -rEn '\$[a-z]+->[a-z]+->' resources/views app/Http
   # ->all()/->get() that may feed a relation-touching loop
   grep -rn '::all()' app/
   

   Each hit: confirm the source query has a matching with(...).

4. Confirm Resources never lazy-load:

   grep -rn 'whenLoaded' app/Http/Resources   # should be present
   grep -rEn '\$this->[a-zA-Z]+\b' app/Http/Resources | grep -v whenLoaded
   

   The second command surfaces direct relation reads that bypass whenLoaded.

5. Watch real query counts with Laravel Telescope (Queries tab), barryvdh/laravel-debugbar, or beyondcode/laravel-query-detector (alerts on N+1 in dev). A query count that grows when you add seed rows confirms the footgun is still present.

When it's OK to bend the rule

• A relation you genuinely access on a single model, not in a loop, is fine to lazy-load — N+1 needs the loop. $post->author on one post is one query.
• shouldBeStrict() / preventLazyLoading() should be gated to non-production. Leaving lazy loading enabled (graceful) in prod is the safer failure mode: a missed eager load degrades to extra queries instead of throwing a 500 at a paying user. Catch it in CI, not in front of customers.
• cursor() is correct when you stream a huge result set and touch NO relations (or only columns) — its single-query, one-model-in-memory design is the most memory-efficient option there.
• Tiny, fixed-size relations (e.g. a hasOne settings row on a handful of records) may not be worth the eager-load ceremony — but it is never wrong to eager load, so default to it.

References

• Eloquent Relationships — Eager Loading
• Eloquent Relationships — Lazy Eager Loading (load/loadMissing)
• Eloquent Relationships — Counting & Aggregating Related Models (withCount/withSum/withExists)
• Eloquent Relationships — Preventing Lazy Loading
• Eloquent: Getting Started — Chunking / lazy() / cursor()
• Eloquent API Resources — Conditional Relationships (whenLoaded)
• Configuring Eloquent Strict Mode (shouldBeStrict)
• Laravel Telescope · laravel-debugbar · laravel-query-detector