Convert Eloquent Collections Back into Query Builders with toQuery()

Use toQuery() on Eloquent collections to convert a set of in-memory models back into an Eloquent query builder for bulk operations.

When you have loaded a collection of models (e.g. through filtering or sorting) and now need to perform a bulk database operation on those exact models (such as mass-updating a column or eager-loading a relationship), querying by IDs manually with Model::whereIn('id', $collection->pluck('id')) is verbose.

The toQuery() method generates an Eloquent builder instance scoped to the collection's primary keys.

Bulk Updates via toQuery()

use App\Models\User;

$inactiveUsers = User::where('last_login_at', '<', now()->subYear())->get();

// Convert collection back into query builder to perform a bulk SQL update
$inactiveUsers->toQuery()->update([
    'status' => 'archived',
]);

Eager Loading Relationships on Filtered Collections

// Eager-load relations across the collection via SQL
$inactiveUsers->toQuery()->with('profile')->get();

Summary

• Converts an in-memory Eloquent\Collection into a scoped Builder instance.
• Automatically handles WHERE IN constraints matching the collection's primary keys.
• Ideal for mass updates and bulk deletions on pre-filtered models.