muhmd / laravel-autoseed

v1.0.0 2026-10-08 09:31 UTC

Requires

• php: ^8.2
• fakerphp/faker: ^1.23
• illuminate/console: ^11.0|^12.0
• illuminate/database: ^11.0|^12.0
• illuminate/support: ^11.0|^12.0

MIT

• Muhmdhamed

Published on Packagist.org on 2026-10-08 09:34 UTC

README

Laravel AutoSeed inspects your database schema and fills eligible tables with Faker-generated data. It uses column types, column names, foreign keys, and unique indexes to create useful development and testing data without requiring you to write a factory for every table.

Warning: This package inserts and can truncate database data. Use it only with development or test databases. The command refuses to run in production unless you explicitly pass --force.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2 or later
• Laravel 11 or 12
• A database driver supported by Laravel's schema inspection APIs

Installation

Install it as a development dependency:

composer require --dev muhmd/laravel-autoseed

Laravel package discovery registers the service provider and the autoseed:run Artisan command automatically.

Quick start

Run the command to seed eligible tables with the configured default row count (50 rows per table by default):

php artisan autoseed:run

For a clean development database, migrate first, then seed:

php artisan migrate:fresh
php artisan autoseed:run

To generate different row counts or target particular tables:

# Generate 200 rows per selected table count
php artisan autoseed:run --rows=200

# Override individual table counts
php artisan autoseed:run --table=users:1000 --table=order_items:x10

# Seed only the named tables
php artisan autoseed:run --only=users --only=orders

# Skip named tables
php artisan autoseed:run --except=logs --except=audit_events

# Multiply all computed row counts by five
php artisan autoseed:run --multiplier=5

# Truncate selected tables before seeding
php artisan autoseed:run --fresh

# Set Faker's random seed
php artisan autoseed:run --seed=42

--fresh truncates the tables selected for this run; it does not run migrations. Make sure the selected tables can safely be emptied. When using --only, parent tables are not automatically included, so required referenced rows must already exist.

Command options

Option	Description
--rows=N	Use N as the default row count for each table in this run.
--table=TABLE:COUNT	Override one table's count. Repeat for multiple tables.
--only=TABLE	Seed only the named table(s). Repeat to name multiple tables.
--except=TABLE	Skip the named table(s). Repeat to name multiple tables.
--multiplier=N	Multiply each computed table count. Defaults to 1.
--fresh	Truncate selected tables before inserting rows.
--seed=N	Seed Faker's generator. Some other random choices are not seeded.
--force	Allow running in a Laravel production environment. Use with care.

Table counts can be exact numbers or a multiplier of the base row count:

• --table=users:1000 creates 1,000 users (before applying --multiplier).
• --table=order_items:x10 creates ten times the base count for order_items.

The base count is --rows when supplied, otherwise default_rows from the package configuration. Table-specific overrides take precedence over that base count, and --multiplier is applied last.

Configuration

Publish the configuration file if you want to customize defaults:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=autoseed-config

This creates config/autoseed.php:

Setting	Default	Purpose
default_rows	50	Default rows to generate per table.
tables	[]	Per-table count overrides; accepts numbers or strings like 'x10'.
exclude	Laravel infrastructure tables	Table names/patterns to skip. Patterns use fnmatch.
morph_map	[]	Morph alias to table mappings, merged with Laravel's morph map.
chunk_size	500	Rows per bulk insert.
pool_limit	50000	Maximum parent rows loaded in memory per foreign key.
null_chance	10	Percentage chance of using NULL for a nullable generated column.
self_ref_pct	70	Percentage of rows linked to another row in a supported self-referencing table.
locale	en_US	Faker locale; can also be set with FAKER_LOCALE.

The default excluded tables include Laravel migration, queue, cache, session, and token tables, as well as Telescope and Pulse tables.

How it works

1. Inspects tables, columns, primary keys, unique indexes, and foreign keys using Laravel's schema APIs.
2. Orders tables so referenced parent tables are generally seeded before dependent tables.
3. Generates values based on the column's database type and, where useful, its name (for example, email, created_at, price, or status).
4. Uses available referenced rows for foreign keys, including composite foreign keys. It also recognizes conventional polymorphic *_type / *_id pairs when a morph map is configured.
5. Inserts generated rows in batches.

Generated values may include names, email addresses, dates, numbers, booleans, JSON, UUIDs, enum values, and other common data. Nullable columns may be set to NULL according to null_chance; nullable deleted_at columns are generated as NULL. Generated password values are Laravel hashes of the literal password.

Important limitations

• This generates dummy data from schema information; it does not run Eloquent model factories, events, observers, or application-specific business logic.
• It cannot infer every application's validation rules or domain constraints. Review the generated data before relying on it in tests.
• Required foreign keys whose parent table has no rows can cause a table to be skipped with a warning. Cyclic dependencies may not be seedable in every schema.
• Faker's --seed option seeds Faker values, but other randomized choices are not fully deterministic, so identical complete database contents are not guaranteed across runs.
• Running with --force in production is dangerous. The package does not provide a production-data safety net.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. When reporting a problem, include your PHP and Laravel versions, database driver, and a minimal description of the relevant schema. Do not include credentials or production data.

License

This package is open-sourced under the MIT License.