Laravel database seeders for test data

Carlos Mendez Jan 2026

3 tabs

<?php

namespace Database\Seeders;

use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;

class DatabaseSeeder extends Seeder
{
    public function run(): void
    {
        if (app()->environment('production')) {
            $this->command->warn('Skipping seeders in production');
            return;
        }

        $this->call([
            UserSeeder::class,
            CategorySeeder::class,
            PostSeeder::class,
            CommentSeeder::class,
        ]);
    }
}

<?php

namespace Database\Seeders;

use App\Models\Post;
use App\Models\User;
use App\Models\Tag;
use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;

class PostSeeder extends Seeder
{
    public function run(): void
    {
        $users = User::all();
        $tags = Tag::all();

        // Create 50 published posts
        Post::factory()
            ->count(50)
            ->published()
            ->create()
            ->each(function ($post) use ($users, $tags) {
                // Assign random author
                $post->user_id = $users->random()->id;
                $post->save();

                // Attach random tags
                $post->tags()->attach(
                    $tags->random(rand(1, 5))->pluck('id')
                );

                // Create comments
                $post->comments()
                    ->createMany(
                        \App\Models\Comment::factory()
                            ->count(rand(0, 10))
                            ->make()
                            ->toArray()
                    );
            });

        // Create 20 draft posts
        Post::factory()
            ->count(20)
            ->draft()
            ->create();
    }
}

<?php

namespace Database\Factories;

use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\Factory;

class PostFactory extends Factory
{
    public function definition(): array
    {
        return [
            'user_id' => User::factory(),
            'title' => fake()->sentence(),
            'slug' => fake()->slug(),
            'body' => fake()->paragraphs(5, true),
            'excerpt' => fake()->paragraph(),
            'views' => fake()->numberBetween(0, 10000),
            'published_at' => null,
        ];
    }

    public function published(): static
    {
        return $this->state(fn (array $attributes) => [
            'published_at' => fake()->dateTimeBetween('-1 year', 'now'),
        ]);
    }

    public function draft(): static
    {
        return $this->state(fn (array $attributes) => [
            'published_at' => null,
        ]);
    }

    public function featured(): static
    {
        return $this->state(fn (array $attributes) => [
            'is_featured' => true,
            'views' => fake()->numberBetween(5000, 50000),
        ]);
    }
}

3 files · php Explain with highlit

Seeders populate databases with test or initial data. I create seeder classes in database/seeders with a run() method. The DatabaseSeeder orchestrates other seeders. For large datasets, I use factories with factory()->count(100)->create() for performance. Model factories define default attributes and states for variations. Seeders support environments—only run certain seeders in development. I use transactions in seeders to roll back on errors. The --class flag runs specific seeders without running all. Seeders are perfect for demo data, development databases, or initial application setup. Combined with migrations, they enable reproducible database states across environments.