/laravel-database-optimization

Table Naming Conventions

Impact: HIGH (Eloquent relies on naming conventions to auto-resolve models to tables)

Laravel's Eloquent ORM automatically maps a model to its table by converting the class name to plural snake_case. Always use English for all table names — Laravel's built-in tables (users, password_reset_tokens, failed_jobs) are English, and mixing languages creates inconsistency. Deviating from these conventions forces manual overrides across every model, breaks implicit route model binding, and confuses developers who expect standard Laravel behavior.

Incorrect

// ❌ Singular table name — Eloquent expects plural
Schema::create('user', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('name');
});

// ❌ PascalCase — Eloquent converts "OrderItem" to "order_items", not "OrderItems"
Schema::create('OrderItems', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->foreignId('order_id')->constrained();
});

// ❌ Wrong pivot table order — must be alphabetical
Schema::create('user_role', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained();
    $table->foreignId('role_id')->constrained();
});

// ❌ Prefixed tables — adds noise, breaks Eloquent auto-resolution
Schema::create('tbl_users', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('name');
});

Problems:

• Eloquent cannot auto-resolve User model to a user table (expects users)
• PascalCase tables require explicit $table property on every model
• Non-alphabetical pivot names break belongsToMany without manual table overrides
• Table prefixes like tbl_ add noise and break all convention-based resolution

Correct

// ✅ Plural snake_case — matches Eloquent's automatic resolution
Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('name');
    $table->timestamps();
});

Schema::create('order_items', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->foreignId('order_id')->constrained();
    $table->integer('quantity');
    $table->timestamps();
});

Schema::create('blog_posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('title');
    $table->text('body');
    $table->timestamps();
});

// ✅ Pivot table — alphabetical order of both model names (singular snake_case)
Schema::create('role_user', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->foreignId('role_id')->constrained();
    $table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained();
    $table->primary(['role_id', 'user_id']);
});

// ✅ Override with $table property when a custom name is required
class Product extends Model
{
    protected $table = 'catalog_products';
}

// ✅ Custom pivot table name specified explicitly
class Category extends Model
{
    public function products(): BelongsToMany
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany(Product::class, 'category_product');
    }
}

Benefits:

• Eloquent auto-resolves User to users, OrderItem to order_items with zero configuration
• Alphabetical pivot naming (role_user) works with belongsToMany without specifying the table
• Consistent naming makes migrations, queries, and team collaboration predictable
• Custom $table overrides are explicit and self-documenting when needed

Reference: Laravel Eloquent Conventions