The belongsTo relationship is used in the model containing the foreign key, such as Post having user_id; 2. Define the relationship in the Post model as return $this->belongsTo(User::class); 3. Laravel automatically uses user_id as the foreign key based on the method name; 4. Access the related user via $post->user->name in controllers or Blade views; 5. The inverse User hasMany relationship is defined in the User model as return $this->hasMany(Post::class); 6. Always ensure the foreign key is indexed and constrained in the migration for integrity and performance, which enables efficient and clean parent-child record associations in Laravel.
In Laravel, the belongsTo
relationship is used to define that a model "belongs to" another model. This is commonly used when you have a foreign key in the current model’s table pointing to the primary key of another model.

Let’s walk through a practical example using two models: Post
and User
.
? Example: A Post Belongs to a User
Assume each blog post is written by a user. The posts
table has a user_id
column that references the id
in the users
table.

1. Database Migrations
First, ensure your posts
table has a foreign key:
// In create_posts_table migration Schema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) { $table->id(); $table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained()->onDelete('cascade'); $table->string('title'); $table->text('body'); $table->timestamps(); });
This creates a user_id
column and links it to the users
table.

2. Define the belongsTo
Relationship in the Post Model
// app/Models/Post.php namespace App\Models; use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model; class Post extends Model { public function user() { return $this->belongsTo(User::class); } }
? By default, Laravel assumes the foreign key is
user_id
based on the relationship method name (user
). If your key is different (e.g.,author_id
), you’d specify it:return $this->belongsTo(User::class, 'author_id');
3. Usage in Controller or Blade Views
Now you can access the user who wrote the post:
// In a controller $post = Post::find(1); echo $post->user->name; // Outputs the name of the user who wrote the post
Or in a Blade view:
<p>Written by: {{ $post->user->name }}</p>
4. Reverse: User Has Many Posts
For completeness, the inverse relationship in the User
model would be:
// app/Models/User.php public function posts() { return $this->hasMany(Post::class); }
? Key Points
- Use
belongsTo
on the model that contains the foreign key (in this case,Post
hasuser_id
). - The related model (e.g.,
User
) is the one being referenced. - Laravel Eloquent handles the join automatically.
- Always make sure the foreign key is properly indexed and constrained in the database for performance and integrity.
This pattern is widely used for relationships like:
- Comment belongs to Post
- Order belongs to Customer
- Product belongs to Category
Basically, whenever one record "belongs to" a single parent record.
That’s it — clean, simple, and powerful.
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