How to Seed Single and Multiple Records in Laravel: A Beginner-Friendly Guide

Laravel provides a powerful and elegant way to seed your database with test or default data using seeders. Whether you're inserting a single record or multiple rows, Laravel's seeding tools are clean, efficient, and perfect for speeding up development.

🔹 What is Seeding in Laravel?

Seeding is the process of populating your database with sample or default data using Laravel’s built-in Seeder classes. It is commonly used during development or testing to quickly generate dummy data for your tables.

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🔸 Step 1: Create a Seeder Class

Run the Artisan command to create a new seeder:

php artisan make:seeder UserSeeder

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🔹 Seeding a Single Record

Edit database/seeders/UserSeeder.php like this:

use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;

class UserSeeder extends Seeder
{
    public function run()
    {
        User::create([
            'name' => 'Demo User',
            'email' => 'demo@example.com',
            'password' => bcrypt('password'),
        ]);
    }
}

🔹 Seeding Multiple Records

You can insert multiple records using the insert() method:

public function run()
{
    User::insert([
        [
            'name' => 'User One',
            'email' => 'one@example.com',
            'password' => bcrypt('password1'),
        ],
        [
            'name' => 'User Two',
            'email' => 'two@example.com',
            'password' => bcrypt('password2'),
        ],
    ]);
}

Or use a loop for dynamic generation:

public function run()
{
    for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
        User::create([
            'name' => 'User ' . $i,
            'email' => 'user-' . $i . '@example.com',
            'password' => bcrypt('password' . $i),
        ]);
    }
}

🔸 Step 2: Register the Seeder

Open database/seeders/DatabaseSeeder.php and call your seeder:

public function run()
{
    $this->call(UserSeeder::class);
}

🔸 Step 3: Run the Seeder

To run all registered seeders:

php artisan db:seed

To run a specific seeder class:

php artisan db:seed --class=UserSeeder

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✅ Final Tips

• Use seeders to quickly fill your database with test data during development.
• For large datasets or random records, combine with Laravel Factories.
• Avoid using real user data or credentials in your seeders.

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🔚 Conclusion

Laravel's seeding system is a powerful tool for quickly generating data and improving your development workflow. Whether you're inserting a single row or generating many, mastering seeding will save you time and make your testing environment more robust.