Update or Create Models Cleanly with updateOrCreate() and firstOrCreate()

Separate lookup conditions from update attributes when upserting individual Eloquent models.

Instead of writing manual if ($model = Model::find(...)) { $model->update(...); } else { Model::create(...); } logic, Eloquent provides firstOrCreate() and updateOrCreate().

Both methods accept two arrays:

1. Lookup Attributes: Columns used in the WHERE query to locate an existing record.
2. Values: Attributes to set or update when creating or modifying the model.

Finding or Creating Records with firstOrCreate()

If a matching record exists, it is returned untouched. If no record exists, it is created using the merged attributes:

use App\Models\User;

// Looks for a user by email. If not found, creates one with the given name and status.
$user = User::firstOrCreate(
    ['email' => '[email protected]'], // Lookup conditions
    ['name' => 'Punyapal Shah', 'status' => 'active'] // Additional attributes on create only
);

Upserting Records with updateOrCreate()

If a matching record exists, it is updated with the second array. If not found, a new record is created with all attributes:

use App\Models\Subscription;

$subscription = Subscription::updateOrCreate(
    ['user_id' => $user->id, 'plan_id' => 'pro_monthly'], // Lookup conditions
    ['expires_at' => now()->addMonth(), 'is_active' => true] // Attributes to update or create
);

Inspecting Model Creation State

Check whether the returned model was newly created or already existed using wasRecentlyCreated:

if ($subscription->wasRecentlyCreated) {
    logger()->info('New subscription created.');
} else {
    logger()->info('Existing subscription updated.');
}

Summary

• First argument defines the WHERE constraints.
• Second argument specifies the values to set or update.
• Use $model->wasRecentlyCreated to run event triggers only on newly created records.