Bypassing $fillable Safely with forceFill() in Laravel
July 2, 2025Bypassing $fillable Safely with forceFill() in Laravel
Ever used create() in Laravel and noticed some fields like role or status didn’t save? That’s because Laravel’s mass assignment protection silently ignores non-whitelisted attributes.
🔐 What Is Mass Assignment?
Mass assignment lets you set multiple model attributes in one go, e.g.:
User::create([
'name' => 'John',
'email' => '[email protected]',
'role' => 'admin', // This won’t get saved if not fillable
]);🛡️ Two Ways to Control Fillable Fields
1. $fillable (Whitelist)
protected $fillable = ['name', 'email'];Only listed fields are allowed for mass assignment.
2. $guarded (Blacklist)
protected $guarded = ['role'];Everything is fillable except the blacklisted attributes.
⚡ Enter forceFill()
When you trust your data source (e.g., from an internal service, seeder, or job), you can bypass fillable/guarded protection using:
$user = new User;
$user->forceFill([
'name' => 'John',
'email' => '[email protected]',
'role' => 'admin', // Will be assigned regardless of $fillable
])->save();No need to adjust your $fillable or $guarded, and it's safe when used properly.
✔️ When to Use Each
- ✅
$fillable: For trusted user input (forms, APIs). - ✅
$guarded: When many fields are fillable except a few. - ✅
forceFill(): For backend logic with trusted data.
Using create() without understanding mass assignment may result in “missing fields” — use the right tool for the job. Laravel is powerful when used with understanding.
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