Joel Clermont

I once shared a static variable trick for avoiding repeated lookups within a request. Laravel now has a first-party helper that's cleaner and more robust. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-17-a-better-way-to-memoize-within-a-request

Using loadMissing() to avoid duplicate queries? If the relationship was previously loaded with a filter, you might silently get incomplete data. Here's when the extra query is actually worth it. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-16-when-loadmissing-works-against-you

In today's video, I show you how PHPStorm's PR review tools give you better file tracking than GitHub's own interface. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-13-video-another-nice-feature-for-local-pull-request-review

If your Laravel app runs on Amazon RDS, switching from gp2 to gp3 storage can save money and improve performance. Here's how to do it safely. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-12-a-quick-rds-storage-tweak-for-your-laravel-app

We all want fast code, but how do you find the slow spots in production? Here are two approaches that have worked well for us. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-11-republished-how-do-you-know-if-slow-in-production

MySQL ships with conservative defaults meant for minimal hardware. Here's a quick read that highlights the InnoDB settings most likely to matter for your Laravel app. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-10-mysql-defaults-were-not-designed-for-your-laravel-app

Does everyone need to have an immediate opinion on AI? In this week's podcast, Aaron and I discuss why waiting to build deeper knowledge before sharing opinions is not the same as being against new technology. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-09-laravel-podcast-being-anti-hype-does-not-mean-being-anti-ai

Deleted code lives on in git history, and AI agents like Claude Code can search through it for you. Here's an example of finding old code when you're not even quite sure what to search for. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-05-let-an-ai-agent-dig-through-your-git-history

When you find messy code, it's tempting to just work around it. But sometimes a small refactor now saves a lot of pain later. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-04-republished-try-not-to-make-things-worse

When you suggest deleting dead code, someone always says "but what if I need it later?" Here are four common objections and why none of them hold up. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-03-03-common-objections-to-deleting-dead-code

In today's video, I show how to use Laravel's explicit route model binding to resolve a single URL parameter to one of two different models, no polymorphism required. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-27-video-route-binding-with-two-different-models

Ever wondered why Laravel's composer.json has separate PSR-4 entries for Database\Factories and Database\Seeders instead of just one Database mapping? #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-26-why-are-there-two-psr4-mappings-for-the-database-directory

We all want fast database queries, but are they always better? Hold your judgement and give this a quick read. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-25-republished-are-fast-queries-always-good

Depending on your expectations, passing an associative array to Eloquent's orWhere method might not do what you think. Here's a real bug I found and the simple fix. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-24-make-sure-you-know-how-orwhere-works-with-multiple-values

When the same feature exists in three different styles across your codebase, how do you plan an upgrade? In this week's podcast, Aaron and I discuss three approaches and the tradeoffs of each. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-23-laravel-podcast-three-ways-to-plan-an-upgrade-when-your-codebase-is-a-patchwork

In today's video, I show you why $request->get() can silently fail and what to use instead. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-20-video-stop-using-request-get

A reader question about subqueries across multiple database connections led to an interesting deep dive into how Laravel compiles queries. It turns out whereHas and whereIn behave very differently here. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-19-do-eloquent-subqueries-work-across-database-connections

Tired of stale branch references cluttering your local repo after merging PRs? There's a one-time git config to fix that. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-18-republished-clean-up-dead-git-branch-refs-automatically

Once again, I missed a bug because the local dev environment was different from the server environment. Don't do it people, learn from my pain! #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-17-match-your-local-database-connections-to-production

If you use multiple database connections in Laravel, there's a subtle trap where eager loading can query the wrong database. Here's why it happens and the simple fix. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-16-eager-loading-can-query-the-wrong-database

Do you ever wonder if that code should go in the register or boot method in your service provider? In today's video, I explain the difference with real examples of what goes where and a common rule to make it easy to remember. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-13-video-what-is-the-difference-between-boot-and-register-in-service-providers

A question came up on our YouTube channel about whether a test is really useful or just testing Laravel itself. Here's a simple trick I use to tell the difference. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-12-how-to-tell-if-youre-testing-the-framework

Before you type up that long explanation, consider recording a quick screencast instead. You might even catch a bug or two in the process. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-11-republished-the-value-of-a-quick-code-demo

Remember when limit() inside eager loading constraints didn't work per parent? Laravel 11 quietly fixed that. Time to retest your assumptions. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-10-occasionally-recheck-your-assumptions-about-laravel-behavior

That 5 * 60 in your config file? Is it really necessary? In this week's podcast, Aaron and I explain why config values should be plain and static. #php #laravel https://masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-02-09-laravel-podcast-stop-doing-math-in-your-config-files