/laravel-database-optimization

Enable preventLazyLoading in Development

Impact: CRITICAL (Catches N+1 bugs before they reach production)

Without lazy loading prevention, N+1 query bugs are invisible — code works correctly but fires hundreds of unnecessary queries. Enabling preventLazyLoading in non-production environments throws an exception the moment a relationship is lazily loaded, forcing developers to fix the problem immediately.

Incorrect

// ❌ No lazy loading prevention — N+1 bugs silently reach production
class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    public function boot(): void
    {
        // Nothing here to catch lazy loading
    }
}

// This code works but fires 101 queries — nobody notices until production crawls
$posts = Post::all();
foreach ($posts as $post) {
    echo $post->author->name; // Silent N+1, no error raised
}

Problems:

• N+1 queries go completely undetected during development and code review
• Performance regressions accumulate silently until production degrades noticeably
• Developers have no feedback loop to learn about missing eager loads

Correct

// ✅ Prevent lazy loading in non-production environments
class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    public function boot(): void
    {
        Model::preventLazyLoading(! $this->app->isProduction());
    }
}

// Now this code throws LazyLoadingViolationException in dev/staging:
$posts = Post::all();
foreach ($posts as $post) {
    echo $post->author->name; // 💥 LazyLoadingViolationException thrown
}

// Developer is forced to fix it:
$posts = Post::with('author')->get();
foreach ($posts as $post) {
    echo $post->author->name; // ✅ No exception, 2 queries total
}

Benefits:

• Throws LazyLoadingViolationException immediately when a relationship is lazily loaded
• Catches N+1 problems during development before they reach production
• Safe to enable — only active in non-production environments, so production is never affected

Reference: Laravel Preventing Lazy Loading