Query scopes in Laravel - Step-by-Step Execution

Concept Flow - Query scopes

Define scope method in model

↓

Call scope method on query builder

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Scope modifies query

↓

Execute query with modified conditions

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Get filtered results

Query scopes let you add reusable filters to database queries by defining methods in your model that modify the query builder.

Execution Sample

Laravel

class Post extends Model {
  public function scopePublished($query) {
    return $query->where('published', true);
  }
}

$posts = Post::published()->get();

Defines a scope 'published' to filter posts where 'published' is true, then fetches those posts.

Execution Table

Step	Action	Query Builder State	Result
1	Call Post::published()	Query builder for Post model	Query builder instance created
2	Inside scopePublished: add where('published', true)	Query builder with where condition added	Query modified to filter published posts
3	Call get() on query builder	Final query ready	SQL executed, returns posts with published = true
4	Receive results	Collection of Post models	Filtered posts returned

💡 Query executed after scope modifies it, returning only published posts

Variable Tracker

Variable	Start	After Step 1	After Step 2	After Step 3	Final
$query	null	Query builder instance	Query builder with where('published', true)	Query builder ready to execute	Executed query results
$posts	null	null	null	null	Collection of published posts

Key Moments - 3 Insights

Why does the scope method start with 'scope' in its name?

Laravel requires scope methods to start with 'scope' so it can recognize and call them properly when you use the short form like 'published()' in the query (see execution_table step 1 and 2).

What does the scope method receive as its first argument?

The scope method receives the query builder instance as the first argument, allowing it to add conditions to the query (see execution_table step 2 where the where condition is added).

Can you chain multiple scopes together?

Yes, because each scope returns the modified query builder, you can chain scopes like Post::published()->popular()->get(), building up the query step by step.

Visual Quiz - 3 Questions

Look at the execution_table, what does the query builder contain after step 2?

A A query with a where condition filtering published posts

B An empty query builder with no conditions

C A collection of posts already fetched

D A raw SQL string

💡 Hint

Check the 'Query Builder State' column at step 2 in execution_table

At which step is the SQL query actually executed?

A Step 1

B Step 2

C Step 3

D Step 4

💡 Hint

Look for the step where 'get()' is called in execution_table

If the scope method did not return the query builder, what would happen?

A The query would still work fine

B The query builder would be lost and chaining scopes would fail

C The query would return all posts ignoring filters

D Laravel would throw a syntax error

💡 Hint

Refer to variable_tracker for how $query changes and is returned after step 2

Concept Snapshot

Query scopes in Laravel are methods in models prefixed with 'scope'.
They receive the query builder and add conditions.
Call them as short names on the model query.
Scopes return the modified query builder for chaining.
They help reuse query filters cleanly.

Full Transcript

Query scopes in Laravel let you add reusable filters to database queries by defining methods in your model. These methods start with 'scope' and receive the query builder as the first argument. Inside the scope, you add conditions like where clauses. When you call the scope on the model, Laravel calls the method without the 'scope' prefix and applies the filter. The scope returns the modified query builder so you can chain multiple scopes. Finally, calling get() executes the SQL query and returns filtered results. This visual trace showed how the query builder changes step-by-step from creation, modification by the scope, to execution and result retrieval.