Auto-Seeder

A zero-config PHP package that connects to your database via an Eloquent model (or a raw PDO connection), reads all column definitions, and inserts randomly-generated, realistic data — no seeders to write by hand.

Requirements

• PHP >= 8.0
• fakerphp/faker ^1.23

Installation

composer require oluokunkabiru/auto-seeder

Artisan Command

After installation the seed:auto command is automatically available:

# Seed 1 row (default)
php artisan seed:auto User

# Seed N rows
php artisan seed:auto User 50

# Full FQCN
php artisan seed:auto "App\Models\Order" 100

# Override email domain and phone country code at runtime
php artisan seed:auto User 50 --domain=acme.com --country-code=+234

# Skip specific columns
php artisan seed:auto User 50 --skip=api_token,stripe_id

# Use a different Faker locale
php artisan seed:auto User 50 --locale=fr_FR

Web Dashboard

A self-contained browser UI is registered at http://your-app.test/auto-seeder.

Features:

• 🃏 Model cards — auto-discovered from app/Models, each with a row count input (default 1) and a Seed button
• ⚙️ Settings tab — configure locale, default count, email domain, phone country code — saved to .env
• 🌙 Dark / Light mode toggle (persisted in localStorage)
• ✅ Toast notifications on success or error

Publish the views to customise the dashboard:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=auto-seeder-views

Disable the dashboard (e.g. in production):

AUTO_SEEDER_DASHBOARD=false

Restrict to authenticated users:

// config/auto-seeder.php
'route_middleware' => ['web', 'auth'],

The ServiceProvider is automatically registered via package auto-discovery.

Publish the config file to customise generation defaults:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=auto-seeder-config

This creates config/auto-seeder.php in your Laravel project:

return [

    // Faker locale (see https://fakerphp.org/locales/)
    'locale' => env('AUTO_SEEDER_LOCALE', 'en_US'),

    // Default row count when seed() is called with no argument
    'default_count' => env('AUTO_SEEDER_DEFAULT_COUNT', 1),

    // Per-column format options (exact or partial name match)
    'columns' => [
        'email'  => ['domain'       => env('AUTO_SEEDER_EMAIL_DOMAIN', null)],   // e.g. 'koadit.com'
        'phone'  => ['country_code' => env('AUTO_SEEDER_PHONE_COUNTRY_CODE', null)], 
        // e.g. '+234'
        // 08130584550
        'mobile' => ['country_code' => env('AUTO_SEEDER_PHONE_COUNTRY_CODE', null)],
    ],

    // Extra columns to always skip (on top of id, timestamps, etc.)
    'skip' => [
        // 'two_factor_secret',
    ],

    // Override how specific DB types are treated (future use)
    'types' => [],
];

You can also use .env shortcuts without touching the config file:

AUTO_SEEDER_LOCALE=fr_FR
AUTO_SEEDER_DEFAULT_COUNT=10
AUTO_SEEDER_EMAIL_DOMAIN=koadit.com
AUTO_SEEDER_PHONE_COUNTRY_CODE=+234

Usage

Laravel / Eloquent

use Oluokunkabiru\AutoSeeder\AutoSeeder;
use App\Models\User;

// Seed 1 row (default)
AutoSeeder::fromModel(User::class)->seed();

// Seed 50 rows
AutoSeeder::fromModel(User::class)->seed(50);

// Shorthand — pass count as second argument to fromModel()
AutoSeeder::fromModel(User::class, 50);

// Skip extra columns
AutoSeeder::fromModel(User::class)
    ->skip(['api_token', 'two_factor_secret'])
    ->seed(100);

// Custom email domain + phone country code
AutoSeeder::fromModel(User::class)
    ->configure([
        'email' => ['domain' => 'acme.com'],    // → someone@acme.com
        'phone' => ['country_code' => '+234'],   // → +234XXXXXXXXXX
    ])
    ->seed(50);

// Multiple phone columns with different country codes
AutoSeeder::fromModel(User::class)
    ->configure([
        'email'         => ['domain' => 'company.io'],
        'phone'         => ['country_code' => '+1'],
        'mobile_number' => ['country_code' => '+44'],
    ])
    ->seed(20);

Inside DatabaseSeeder.php:

public function run(): void
{
    AutoSeeder::fromModel(\App\Models\User::class)->seed(20);
    AutoSeeder::fromModel(\App\Models\Product::class)->seed(100);
}

Standalone PHP (raw PDO)

use Oluokunkabiru\AutoSeeder\AutoSeeder;

$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydb', 'root', '');

// Seed 10 rows into the "orders" table
AutoSeeder::fromPdo($pdo)->seed(10, 'orders');

// Seed 1 row (default)
AutoSeeder::fromPdo($pdo)->seed(table: 'orders');

How It Works

1. Inspect — Reads every column from the table using DESCRIBE (MySQL), PRAGMA table_info (SQLite), or information_schema (PostgreSQL).
2. Generate — Maps each column to a Faker method using:
   • Name heuristics — e.g. a column named email → $faker->safeEmail(), phone → $faker->phoneNumber().
   • Type mapping — e.g. decimal → $faker->randomFloat(2), datetime → $faker->dateTime(), enum('a','b') → random pick.
3. Insert — Bulk-inserts all rows via a prepared PDO statement.

Skipped Columns (automatic)

The following columns are never seeded (auto-detected):

Supported Column Types

Supported Databases

• ✅ MySQL / MariaDB
• ✅ SQLite
• ✅ PostgreSQL

License

MIT © OLUOKUN KABIRU ADESINA