Discover Command

The filterable:discover command automatically analyzes your Eloquent models to discover searchable columns, suggest indexes.

Basic Usage

php artisan filterable:discover Post

This will scan the Post model and display:

• Searchable columns (text-based fields)
• Filterable columns (foreign keys, status fields, etc.)
• Relationships with other models
• Current indexing status

Options

--suggest-indexes

Analyze columns and suggest indexes to improve query performance.

php artisan filterable:discover Post --suggest-indexes

Output:

💡 Index Suggestions:

┌─────────┬───────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Column  │ Index Type│ Reason                                   │
├─────────┼───────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ content │ FULLTEXT  │ Searchable column - will improve search  │
│ status  │ INDEX     │ Filterable column - used in WHERE        │
└─────────┴───────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┘

--create-indexes

Automatically create the suggested indexes on your database.

php artisan filterable:discover Post --suggest-indexes --create-indexes

Warning

This will modify your database schema. Make sure to backup your database before running this in production.

--analyze-data

Analyze actual data in the table to provide better insights.

php artisan filterable:discover Post --analyze-data

Output:

📊 Data Analysis:

title:
  Distinct values: 342
  Null count: 0
  Avg length: 48.50
  Samples: Laravel Tutorial, PHP Best Practices, Advanced Vue.js

status:
  Distinct values: 3
  Null count: 0
  Samples: published, draft, archived

---

--connection

Use a specific database connection for analysis.

php artisan filterable:discover Post --connection=tenant_db

Complete Workflow

1. Discovery and Analysis

php artisan filterable:discover Post --analyze-data

2. Review Suggestions

php artisan filterable:discover Post --suggest-indexes

3. Create Indexes

php artisan filterable:discover Post --suggest-indexes --create-indexes

Output Breakdown

Searchable Columns

Columns that are suitable for text-based searching:

Column Type	Examples
Text Fields	title, description, content, excerpt
Name Fields	name, username, full_name
Email Fields	email, contact_email
String Fields	slug, code, reference

Filterable Columns

Columns that are suitable for filtering:

Column Type	Examples
Foreign Keys	user_id, category_id, parent_id
Status Fields	status, state, type
Boolean Fields	is_active, is_published, featured
Enum Fields	role, priority, visibility

Relationships

Discovered Eloquent relationships:

Relationship	Type	Related Model	Searchable
user	BelongsTo	User	✅
category	BelongsTo	Category	✅
comments	HasMany	Comment	❌
tags	BelongsToMany	Tag	✅

Examples

Example 1: Blog Post Model

php artisan filterable:discover Post --suggest-indexes

Discovered Columns:

• Searchable: title, content, excerpt, slug
• Filterable: status, category_id, user_id, is_featured
• Relationships: user (BelongsTo), category (BelongsTo), comments (HasMany), tags (BelongsToMany)

Example 2: E-commerce Product Model

php artisan filterable:discover Product --analyze-data --suggest-indexes

Discovered Columns:

• Searchable: name, description, sku
• Filterable: category_id, brand_id, status, in_stock
• Relationships: category, brand, variants, reviews

Analysis:

name:
  Distinct values: 1,542
  Avg length: 45.30

sku:
  Distinct values: 1,542
  Null count: 0
  Pattern: Unique identifiers

status:
  Distinct values: 4
  Values: active, inactive, out_of_stock, discontinued

Example 3: User Model

php artisan filterable:discover User

Discovered Columns:

• Searchable: name, email, username
• Filterable: role, status, email_verified_at
• Relationships: posts, comments, profile

Index Recommendations

The discover command suggests indexes based on:

Priority 1: Foreign Keys

CREATE INDEX posts_user_id_index ON posts(user_id);
CREATE INDEX posts_category_id_index ON posts(category_id);

Priority 2: Frequently Filtered Columns

CREATE INDEX posts_status_index ON posts(status);
CREATE INDEX users_role_index ON users(role);

Priority 3: Searchable Text Columns

CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX posts_title_content_fulltext ON posts(title, content);

Best Practices

Discovery Workflow

1. Run discovery first to understand your model structure
2. Review suggestions before creating indexes
3. Test performance after adding indexes

Multi-Tenant Applications

Use --connection to analyze tenant-specific databases:

php artisan filterable:discover Post --connection=tenant_1_db

php artisan filterable:discover Post --connection=tenant_1_db

Large Tables

Use --analyze-data cautiously on large tables as it may take time:

# For tables with millions of rows, skip data analysis
php artisan filterable:discover Product --suggest-indexes

Troubleshooting

Model Not Found

# Try with full namespace
php artisan filterable:discover "App\Models\Post"

# Check model exists
php artisan tinker
>>> class_exists('App\Models\Post')

Connection Issues

# List available connections
php artisan db:show

# Test specific connection
php artisan filterable:discover Post --connection=mysql

No Columns Discovered

Possible reasons:

• Table doesn't exist
• Model's $table property is incorrect
• Database connection is misconfigured

Solution:

# Verify table exists
php artisan tinker
>>> \App\Models\Post::first()

Index Creation Failed

Common causes:

• Insufficient database permissions
• Index already exists
• Column type not supported for FULLTEXT

Solution:

# Check database user permissions
SHOW GRANTS FOR CURRENT_USER;

# Manually create index
CREATE INDEX posts_title_index ON posts(title);

Advanced Usage

Combining with Other Commands

# Discover, create indexes, and test
php artisan filterable:discover Post --suggest-indexes --create-indexes
php artisan filterable:test PostFilter --model=Post

Batch Discovery

# Discover multiple models
for model in Post User Product Category; do
  php artisan filterable:discover $model --suggest-indexes
done

CI/CD Integration

# .github/workflows/discover-filters.yml
- name: Discover and Analyze Models
  run: |
      php artisan filterable:discover Post --suggest-indexes
      php artisan filterable:discover User --suggest-indexes
      php artisan filterable:discover Product --suggest-indexes

Migration Generation

After discovering indexes, you can create a migration:

php artisan make:migration add_filterable_indexes_to_posts_table

public function up()
{
    Schema::table('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->index('status');
        $table->index('category_id');
        $table->fullText(['title', 'content']);
    });
}

Conclusion

The filterable:discover command is a powerful tool to help you identify searchable and filterable columns in your Eloquent models, suggest indexes for performance optimization, and analyze your data. By integrating this command into your development workflow, you can ensure that your filters are efficient and effective.