How to Stop Laravel from Automatically Updating the created_at Field

In Laravel, the created_at and updated_at fields are automatically managed by Eloquent when you use timestamps in your database tables. If you want to stop Laravel from automatically updating the created_at field (or any timestamp field), you can do so by customizing your model’s behavior. Below are the steps to achieve this in Laravel 11.

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1. Disable Timestamps Entirely

If you don’t want Laravel to manage the created_at and updated_at fields at all, you can disable timestamps in your model.

class YourModel extends Model
{
    public $timestamps = false;
}

This will prevent Laravel from automatically updating or inserting values into the created_at and updated_at fields.

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2. Disable Only created_at or updated_at

If you want to keep one of the timestamp fields (e.g., updated_at) but disable the other (e.g., created_at), you can override the initializeTimestamps() method in your model.

class YourModel extends Model
{
    protected static function boot()
    {
        parent::boot();

        static::creating(function ($model) {
            $model->created_at = null; // Disable `created_at`
        });

        static::updating(function ($model) {
            $model->updated_at = $model->freshTimestamp(); // Keep `updated_at`
        });
    }
}

This approach ensures that the created_at field is not automatically set during model creation, while the updated_at field is still managed.

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3. Customize Timestamp Behavior

If you want to manually control the created_at field (e.g., set it only once during creation and never update it), you can use model events like creating and updating.

class YourModel extends Model
{
    protected static function boot()
    {
        parent::boot();

        // Set `created_at` only during creation
        static::creating(function ($model) {
            $model->created_at = $model->freshTimestamp();
        });

        // Prevent `created_at` from being updated
        static::updating(function ($model) {
            $model->created_at = $model->getOriginal('created_at');
        });
    }
}

This ensures that the created_at field is set only once when the model is created and remains unchanged during updates.

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4. Use a Custom Column Name

If you want to use a custom column name instead of created_at, you can define the CREATED_AT constant in your model.

class YourModel extends Model
{
    const CREATED_AT = 'custom_created_at'; // Use a custom column name
    const UPDATED_AT = 'custom_updated_at'; // Use a custom column name
}

This allows you to use your own column names while still leveraging Laravel’s timestamp management.

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5. Manually Set created_at in Your Code

If you want full control over the created_at field, you can manually set it in your code instead of relying on Laravel’s automatic behavior.

$model = new YourModel;
$model->created_at = now(); // Manually set `created_at`
$model->save();

This approach gives you complete control over when and how the created_at field is set.

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6. Remove Timestamps from Migrations

If you don’t want the created_at and updated_at fields in your database table at all, you can remove them from your migration file.

public function up()
{
    Schema::create('your_table', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('name');
        // Add other columns as needed
        // Do not include $table->timestamps();
    });
}

This ensures that the created_at and updated_at fields are not created in the database.

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7. Use a Trait to Override Timestamps

If you want to reuse the same timestamp behavior across multiple models, you can create a custom trait.

trait CustomTimestamps
{
    protected static function bootCustomTimestamps()
    {
        static::creating(function ($model) {
            $model->created_at = null; // Disable `created_at`
        });

        static::updating(function ($model) {
            $model->updated_at = $model->freshTimestamp(); // Keep `updated_at`
        });
    }
}

class YourModel extends Model
{
    use CustomTimestamps;
}

This approach keeps your code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) and makes it easier to manage timestamp behavior across multiple models.

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Conclusion

By default, Laravel automatically manages the created_at and updated_at fields, but you can customize or disable this behavior as needed. Whether you want to disable timestamps entirely, prevent updates to the created_at field, or use custom column names, Laravel provides flexible options to suit your needs. Choose the method that best fits your application’s requirements.

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