CRUD operations

Lucid models make it very easy to perform CRUD operations and also define lifecycle hooks around each operation.

This guide covers 80% of the use cases. However, do make sure to check the Model API docs docs for all the available methods.

Create

You can create and persist new records to the database by first assigning values to the model instance and then calling the save method.

The save method performs the INSERT query when persisting the model instance for the first time and performs the UPDATE query when the model has persisted.

import User from 'App/Models/User'
const user = new User()

// Assign username and email
user.username = 'virk'
user.email = 'virk@adonisjs.com'

// Insert to the database
await user.save()

console.log(user.$isPersisted) // true

Also, you can use the fill method to define all the attributes as once and then call the save method.

await user
  .fill({ username: 'virk', email: 'virk@adonisjs.com' })
  .save()

console.log(user.$isPersisted) // true

create

The static create method creates the model instance and persists it to the database in one go.

import User from 'App/Models/User'

const user = await User.create({
  username: 'virk',
  email: 'virk@adonisjs.com',
})

console.log(user.$isPersisted) // true

createMany

Create multiple instances of a model and persist them to the database. The createMany method accepts the same options as the create method.

const user = await User.createMany([
  {
    email: 'virk@adonisjs.com',
    password: 'secret',
  },
  {
    email: 'romain@adonisjs.com',
    password: 'secret',
  },
])

Read

You can query the database table using one of the following static methods.

all

Fetch all the users from the database. The method returns an array of model instances.

const user = await User.all()
// SQL: SELECT * from "users" ORDER BY "id" DESC;

find

Find a record using the primary key. The method returns a model instance or null (when no records are found).

const user = await User.find(1)
// SQL: SELECT * from "users" WHERE "id" = 1 LIMIT 1;

findBy

Find a record by a column name and its value. Similar to the find method, this method also returns a model instance or null.

const user = await User.findBy('email', 'virk@adonisjs.com')
// SQL: SELECT * from "users" WHERE "email" = 'virk@adonisjs.com' LIMIT 1;

first

Fetch the first record from the database. Returns null when there are no records.

const user = await User.first()
// SQL: SELECT * from "users" LIMIT 1;

orFail variation

You can also use the orFail variation for the find methods. It raises an exception when no row is found.

const user = await User.findOrFail(1)
const user = await User.firstOrFail()
const user = await User.findByOrFail('email', 'virk@adonisjs.com')

The orFail variation will raise an E_ROW_NOT_FOUND exception with 404 statusCode. You can manually handle this exception to convert it to a desired response.

Using the query builder

The above-mentioned static methods cover the common use cases for querying the database. However, you are not only limited to these methods and can also leverage the query builder API for making advanced SQL queries.

You can get an instance of a query builder for your model using the .query method.

const users = await User
  .query() // 👈now have access to all query builder methods
  .where('countryCode', 'IN')
  .orWhereNull('countryCode')

To fetch a single row, you can make use of the .first method. There is also a firstOrFail method.

const users = await User
  .query()
  .where('countryCode', 'IN')
  .orWhereNull('countryCode')
  .first() // 👈 Adds `LIMIT 1` clause

Update

The standard way to perform updates using the model is to look up the record and then update/persist it to the database.

const user = await User.findOrFail(1)
user.lastLoginAt = DateTime.local() // Luxon dateTime is used

await user.save()

Also, you can use the merge method to define all the attributes at once and then call the save method.

await user
  .merge({ lastLoginAt: DateTime.local() })
  .save()

Why not use the update query directly?

Another way to update the records is to perform an update using the query builder manually. For example

await User
  .query()
  .where('id', 1)
  .update({ lastLoginAt: new Date() })

However, updating records directly does not trigger any model hooks and neither auto-update the timestamps.

We recommend not stressing much on the extra select query unless dealing with millions of updates per second and happy leaving the model's features.

Delete

Like the update operation, you first fetch it from the database and delete the row. For example

const user = await User.findOrFail(1)
await user.delete()

Again, for hooks to work, Lucid needs the instance of the model first. If you decide to use the query builder directly, then the model will not fire any hooks.

However, the direct query builder approach can help perform bulk deletes.

await User.query().where('isVerified', false).delete()

Idempotent methods

Models come with many helpful methods to simplify the record creation by first finding them inside the database and running the create/update queries only when the record doesn't exist.

firstOrCreate

Search for a record inside the database or create a new one (only when the lookup fails).

In the following example, we attempt to search a user with an email but persist both the email and the password, when the initial lookup fails. In other words, the searchPayload and the savePayload are merged during the create call.

import User from 'App/Models/User'

const searchPayload = { email: 'virk@adonisjs.com' }
const savePayload = { password: 'secret' }

await User.firstOrCreate(searchPayload, savePayload)

fetchOrCreateMany

The fetchOrCreateMany is similar to the firstOrCreate method, but instead, you can create more than one row. The method needs a unique key for finding the duplicate rows and an array of objects to persist (if missing inside the database).

import User from 'App/Models/User'

const usersToCreate = [
  {
    email: 'foo@example.com',
  },
  {
    email: 'bar@example.com',
  },
  {
    email: 'baz@example.com',
  }
]

await User.fetchOrCreateMany('email', usersToCreate)

updateOrCreate

The updateOrCreate either creates a new record or updates the existing record. Like the firstOrCreate method, you need to define a search payload and the attributes to insert/update.

import User from 'App/Models/User'

const searchPayload = { email: 'virk@adonisjs.com' }
const persistancePayload = { password: 'secret' }

await User.updateOrCreate(searchPayload, persistancePayload)

updateOrCreateMany

The updateOrCreateMany method allows syncing rows by avoiding duplicate entries. The method needs a unique key for finding the duplicate rows and an array of objects to persist/update.

import User from 'App/Models/User'

const usersToCreate = [
  {
    email: 'foo@example.com',
  },
  {
    email: 'bar@example.com',
  },
  {
    email: 'baz@example.com',
  }
]

await User.updateOrCreateMany('email', usersToCreate)

Additional reading

• Checkout the Base model reference guide to view all the available methods and properties.
• Also, read the reference docs for the model query builder .