README

Query Builder

Turn HTTP query strings into safe, declarative Eloquent queries.

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About

Your API lists need filters, sorting, relations and pagination. Writing them by hand in every controller is repetitive; letting the client drive the query is risky. Query Builder gives you both: the client composes its query from the URL, and you declare exactly what it may do, in one class.

-- GET /articles?title[value]=laravel&title[mode]=like&popular=1&sort[date]=desc&with=author
SELECT * FROM articles
WHERE articles.title LIKE '%laravel%' ESCAPE '!' AND views >= 100
ORDER BY articles.created_at DESC LIMIT 25 OFFSET 0
SELECT id, name FROM authors WHERE authors.id IN (…)

Anything not declared is rejected: the client can never filter, sort or load a sensitive column (password). Invalid input is a Laravel validation error (422), never a 500.

Requirements

PHP Version	Query Builder 0.x
<= 8.3	✗ Unsupported
8.4 / 8.5	✓ Supported

Laravel 13
MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite

Quick Start

Installation

composer require structuraphp/query-builder

1. Declare the query

final class ArticleQuery implements
    FromModel,
    WithFilter,
    WithScope,
    WithSort,
    WithRelation,
    WithPaginate
{
    public function getModel(): string
    {
        return Article::class;
    }

    public function filter(FilterInterface $filter): void
    {
        $filter->filter('title')->type(Type::String);
    }

    public function scope(ScopeInterface $scope): void
    {
        $scope->scope('popular');               // Article::scopePopular()
    }

    public function sort(SortInterface $sort): void
    {
        $sort->sort('date')->column('created_at');
        $sort->default('date', Direction::Desc);
    }

    public function relation(RelationInterface $relation): void
    {
        $relation->relation('author')->fields(['id', 'name']);
    }

    public function paginate(PaginationInterface $pagination): void
    {
        $pagination->limit(25)->maxLimit(100);
    }
}

2. Create the request

final class ArticleQueryRequest extends QueryRequest
{
    protected function getQuery(): string
    {
        return ArticleQuery::class;
    }
}

The validation rules are generated from the declaration.

3. Use it in a controller

public function index(ArticleQueryRequest $request)
{
    $parameters = $request->parameters();
    $query = $parameters->builder();    // an Eloquent Builder, still yours
    $query->where('tenant_id', $request->user()->tenant_id);

    return $parameters->paginate($query);
}

That's it: the request above returns a paginated, filtered and sorted list of articles, with their authors.

Features

🔒 Declared, never guessed. The client only uses what the query class declares. Public names stay apart from the schema (column()), and the loaded columns of a relation are yours (fields()).
✅ Laravel validation. Rules, messages and attributes are generated: the client gets field-level 422 errors. Add your own rules and messages, and validate without HTTP too (QueryParameters::fromArray()).
🔎 Typed filters. String, integer, float, boolean and date filters with their operators; like searches escaped and case-insensitive; date comparisons by day that keep your indexes usable.
🧩 Scopes with real arguments. Call model scopes, #[Scope] methods or methods of your custom builder. Arguments are validated and converted from the PHP signature: enums, dates, arrays, nested structures, or your own objects through a cast.
🔐 Server-side context. Give scope arguments from the code (the current user, ids computed by a service), never from the client, and compute them only when the scope is requested.
↕️ Sorting. Declared sorts on columns or relation counts, priority from the URL, default sorts.
🔗 Relations. The client picks the relations to eager load or count, among the declared ones.
📄 Pagination. Offset, cursor (stable, without count query) or none, with a limit the client cannot exceed.
🧱 Domain-friendly. QueryParameters is a value object without HTTP dependency: pass it to a service, keep refining the builder.
📘 OpenAPI ready. Scramble documents your query requests like any form request.

📖 Documentation

The usage guide details every feature with its configuration, example URLs, and the SQL or validation error they produce: filters, scopes, context, sorting, relations and pagination. The PHPStan rules report configuration errors in CI.

🤖 AI agents

With Laravel Boost, php artisan boost:install gives your AI agents the library's guidelines and its structura-query-builder skill.

License

Query Builder is open-source software licensed under the MIT license.

structuraphp / query-builder

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