CRUD Operations in Laravel 12 with GraphQL – A Beginner’s Guide

Building a CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) application is a fundamental skill for any developer. In this guide, we’ll use Laravel 12 (the latest version of the popular PHP framework) and GraphQL (a flexible API query language) to create a simple yet powerful API.

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll understand:
✔ How to set up GraphQL in Laravel 12
✔ How to perform CRUD operations using GraphQL
✔ How to test your API with GraphQL Playground

Let’s dive in!

1. Setting Up Laravel 12 with GraphQL

Step 1: Install Laravel 12

First, create a new Laravel project:

composer create-project laravel/laravel laravel-graphql-crud
cd laravel-graphql-crud

Step 2: Install Lighthouse (GraphQL for Laravel)

Lighthouse is a powerful package that integrates GraphQL with Laravel. Install it via Composer:

composer require nuwave/lighthouse

Step 3: Publish Lighthouse Configuration

Run the following command to generate the default configuration:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Nuwave\Lighthouse\LighthouseServiceProvider"

This will create a graphql/schema.graphql file where we define our API structure.

2. Creating a Model & Migration

Let’s build a simple "Task" CRUD system.

Step 1: Generate Task Model & Migration

php artisan make:model Task -m

Step 2: Update the Migration File

Open database/migrations/xxxx_create_tasks_table.php and define the schema:

Schema::create('tasks', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('title');
    $table->text('description')->nullable();
    $table->boolean('is_completed')->default(false);
    $table->timestamps();
});

Step 3: Run the Migration

php artisan migrate

3. Defining GraphQL Schema for CRUD

Now, let’s define our GraphQL operations in graphql/schema.graphql.

1. Create a Task (Create)

type Mutation {
    createTask(title: String!, description: String): Task @create
}

2. Fetch All Tasks (Read)

type Query {
    tasks: [Task!]! @all
}

3. Fetch a Single Task (Read One)

type Query {
    task(id: ID! @eq): Task @find
}

4. Update a Task (Update)

type Mutation {
    updateTask(id: ID!, title: String, description: String, is_completed: Boolean): Task @update
}

5. Delete a Task (Delete)

type Mutation {
    deleteTask(id: ID!): Task @delete
}

6. Define the Task Type

type Task {
    id: ID!
    title: String!
    description: String
    is_completed: Boolean!
    created_at: String!
    updated_at: String!
}

4. Testing CRUD Operations with GraphQL Playground

GraphQL Playground is an interactive tool to test your API.

Access GraphQL Playground

Run your Laravel development server:

php artisan serve

Visit:

http://localhost:8000/graphql-playground

1. Create a Task

mutation {
    createTask(title: "Learn GraphQL", description: "Build a Laravel GraphQL API") {
        id
        title
    }
}

2. Fetch All Tasks

query {
    tasks {
        id
        title
        is_completed
    }
}

3. Fetch a Single Task

query {
    task(id: 1) {
        id
        title
    }
}

4. Update a Task

mutation {
    updateTask(id: 1, title: "Master GraphQL", is_completed: true) {
        id
        title
        is_completed
    }
}

5. Delete a Task

mutation {
    deleteTask(id: 1) {
        id
        title
    }
}

5. Conclusion

Congratulations! 🎉 You’ve successfully built a CRUD API in Laravel 12 using GraphQL. Here’s what we covered:
✅ Setting up Laravel 12 with GraphQL (Lighthouse)
✅ Creating a Task model & migration
✅ Defining GraphQL queries & mutations
✅ Testing CRUD operations in GraphQL Playground

This setup is perfect for SPAs (Single Page Applications), mobile apps, and APIs where flexibility in data fetching is crucial.

Happy coding! 🚀