🚀 Laravel Read/Write Database Replication with Eloquent: Complete Guide

Learn how to implement Laravel read/write database replication using native support for read/write split in Laravel's database configuration. This step-by-step guide covers how to configure separate read and write connections, use Eloquent ORM efficiently, and scale your Laravel application with replica databases. Includes code examples, best practices, and a custom copy-paste button UI for easier integration. Perfect for developers optimizing Laravel scalability and database performance in production environments.

If you're building a scalable Laravel application that handles thousands of users or large datasets, database replication using read/write split can drastically improve performance.

📋 In this guide:

• ✅ What is database read/write replication?
• 🔧 How to configure Laravel for replication
• ⚙️ How Laravel Eloquent handles read/write operations
• 💡 Practical examples
• 🧪 Testing your setup
• 🙋 FAQs
• 🏁 Final tips

🔧 Configuration in config/database.php

'mysql' => [ 'driver' => 'mysql', 'write' => [ 'host' => [ env('DB_HOST_WRITE', '127.0.0.1'), ], ], 'read' => [ 'host' => [ env('DB_HOST_READ1', '127.0.0.2'), env('DB_HOST_READ2', '127.0.0.3'), ], ], 'sticky' => true, 'port' => env('DB_PORT', '3306'), 'database' => env('DB_DATABASE', 'laravel'), 'username' => env('DB_USERNAME', 'root'), 'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD', ''), 'charset' => 'utf8mb4', 'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci', 'prefix' => '', 'strict' => true, 'engine' => null, ],

.env Example

DB_CONNECTION=mysql DB_HOST_WRITE=127.0.0.1 DB_HOST_READ1=127.0.0.2 DB_HOST_READ2=127.0.0.3

💡 Eloquent Usage Examples

🟢 Read Example

use App\Models\User; $users = User::where('status', 'active')->get();

🟠 Write Example

User::create([ 'name' => 'Jane Doe', 'email' => 'jane@example.com', ]);

🔁 Sticky Example

$user = User::create([ 'name' => 'Mark', 'email' => 'mark@example.com', ]); $found = User::find($user->id); // Reads from write DB if sticky = true

🧪 Log Connection Source

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; public function boot() { DB::listen(function ($query) { logger('SQL: ' . $query->sql . ' [Connection: ' . $query->connectionName . ']'); }); }

⚙️ Force Connection

Force use of write DB:

$user = User::onWriteConnection()->find(1);

Named connection:

$user = User::on('mysql')->find(1);

🙋 FAQs

• Do I need to change my Eloquent models? — No, Laravel handles everything behind the scenes.
• What if replica is out of sync? — Use sticky = true to ensure consistency.
• Can I load balance across replicas? — Yes, Laravel randomly selects one from the list.
• Are transactions always on write DB? — Yes, 100% of transaction queries go to the write connection.

🏁 Final Tips

• ✅ Enable sticky to avoid stale reads
• ✅ Use tools to monitor replication lag
• ✅ Never write to replicas
• ✅ Use connection pooling or proxies for advanced load balancing

🎯 Conclusion

Laravel's read/write replication makes your application faster, more reliable, and ready for scale. With minimal configuration, you unlock massive performance gains for read-heavy workloads.