Eloquent serialization

Learn how to convert Eloquent models to JSON or arrays, control which attributes are shown or hidden, add appended attributes, and customize date formats.

Introduction

When building APIs with Laravel, you’ll often need to convert your models and their relationships to arrays or JSON. Eloquent includes convenient methods for performing these conversions, as well as controlling which attributes are included in the serialized representation of your models.

For an even more robust way to handle Eloquent model and collection JSON serialization, see the documentation on Eloquent API resources.

Models and arrays

Serializing to arrays

To convert a model and its loaded relationships to an array, use the toArray method. This method is recursive, so all attributes and all relationships (including the relationships’ relationships) will be converted to arrays.

use App\Models\User;

$user = User::with('roles')->first();

return $user->toArray();

The attributesToArray method may be used to convert a model’s attributes to an array without its relationships.

$user = User::first();

return $user->attributesToArray();

You may also convert entire collections of models to arrays by calling the toArray method on the collection instance.

$users = User::all();

return $users->toArray();

Serializing to JSON

To convert a model to JSON, you should use the toJson method. Like toArray, the toJson method is recursive, so all attributes and relationships will be converted to JSON. You may also specify any JSON encoding options that are supported by PHP.

use App\Models\User;

$user = User::find(1);

return $user->toJson();

return $user->toJson(JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

Alternatively, you may cast a model or collection to a string, which will automatically call the toJson method on the model or collection.

return (string) User::find(1);

Since models and collections are converted to JSON when cast to a string, you can return Eloquent objects directly from your application’s routes or controllers. Laravel will automatically serialize your Eloquent models and collections to JSON when they are returned from routes or controllers.

Route::get('/users', function () {
    return User::all();
});

Relationships

When an Eloquent model is converted to JSON, its loaded relationships will automatically be included as attributes on the JSON object. Also, though Eloquent relationship methods are defined using “camelCase” method names, a relationship’s JSON attribute will be “snake_case”.

Controlling attribute visibility

Hiding attributes

Sometimes you may wish to limit the attributes, such as passwords, that are included in your model’s array or JSON representation. To do so, use the Hidden attribute on your model. Attributes that are listed in the Hidden attribute will not be included in the serialized representation of your model.

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Attributes\Hidden;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

#[Hidden(['password'])]
class User extends Model
{
    // ...
}

To hide relationships, add the relationship’s method name to your Eloquent model’s Hidden attribute.

Making attributes visible

You may also use the Visible attribute to define an “allow list” of attributes that should be included in your model’s array and JSON representation. All attributes that are not present in the Visible attribute will be hidden when the model is converted to an array or JSON.

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Attributes\Visible;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

#[Visible(['first_name', 'last_name'])]
class User extends Model
{
    // ...
}

Temporarily modifying attribute visibility

If you would like to make some typically hidden attributes visible on a given model instance, you may use the makeVisible or mergeVisible method. The makeVisible method returns the model instance.

return $user->makeVisible('attribute')->toArray();

return $user->mergeVisible(['name', 'email'])->toArray();

Likewise, if you would like to hide some attributes that are typically visible, you may use the makeHidden or mergeHidden method.

return $user->makeHidden('attribute')->toArray();

return $user->mergeHidden(['name', 'email'])->toArray();

If you wish to temporarily override all of the visible or hidden attributes, you may use the setVisible and setHidden methods respectively.

return $user->setVisible(['id', 'name'])->toArray();

return $user->setHidden(['email', 'password', 'remember_token'])->toArray();

Appending values to JSON

Occasionally, when converting models to arrays or JSON, you may wish to add attributes that do not have a corresponding column in your database. To do so, first define an accessor for the value.

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Casts\Attribute;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class User extends Model
{
    /**
     * Determine if the user is an administrator.
     */
    protected function isAdmin(): Attribute
    {
        return new Attribute(
            get: fn () => 'yes',
        );
    }
}

If you would like the accessor to always be appended to your model’s array and JSON representations, you may use the Appends attribute on your model. Note that the accessor’s PHP method is defined using “camelCase”, while the attribute name is typically referenced using its “snake_case” serialized representation.

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Attributes\Appends;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

#[Appends(['is_admin'])]
class User extends Model
{
    // ...
}

Once the attribute has been added to the appends list, it will be included in both the model’s array and JSON representations. Attributes in the appends array will also respect the visible and hidden settings configured on the model.

Appending at runtime

At runtime, you may instruct a model instance to append additional attributes using the append or mergeAppends method. You can also use the setAppends method to override the entire array of appended properties for a given model instance.

return $user->append('is_admin')->toArray();

return $user->mergeAppends(['is_admin', 'status'])->toArray();

return $user->setAppends(['is_admin'])->toArray();

To remove all appended properties from the model, use the withoutAppends method.

return $user->withoutAppends()->toArray();

Date serialization

Customizing the default date format

You may customize the default serialization format by overriding the serializeDate method. This method does not affect how your dates are formatted for storage in the database.

/**
 * Prepare a date for array / JSON serialization.
 */
protected function serializeDate(DateTimeInterface $date): string
{
    return $date->format('Y-m-d');
}

Customizing the date format per attribute

You may customize the serialization format of individual Eloquent date attributes by specifying the date format in the model’s cast declarations.

protected function casts(): array
{
    return [
        'birthday' => 'date:Y-m-d',
        'joined_at' => 'datetime:Y-m-d H:00',
    ];
}