<critical_constraints> ❌ NO request()->all() → use FormRequest validation ❌ NO fat controllers (>10 lines) → extract to Service/Action ❌ NO -m flag for Mongo → schema-less, migrations only for indexes ✅ MUST detect DB driver from composer.json first ✅ MUST return new <Name>Resource($model) always ✅ MUST generate test: make:test <Name>Test </critical_constraints>

<detection> Check `composer.json`: - No mongo packages → SQL (Illuminate\Eloquent\Model) - `mongodb/laravel-mongodb` → Official Mongo (MongoDB\Laravel\Eloquent\Model) - `jenssegers/mongodb` → Legacy Mongo (Jenssegers\Mongodb\Eloquent\Model) </detection>

<model_blueprint>

php

declare(strict_types=1);
use MongoDB\Laravel\Eloquent\Model;  // or appropriate base
use MongoDB\Laravel\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;  // driver-specific

class Example extends Model {
    use SoftDeletes;
    protected $connection = 'mongodb';  // for Mongo only
    protected $dates = ['deleted_at'];  // for legacy Mongo
}

</model_blueprint>

<migration_strategy>

•SQL: ALWAYS generate migration with $table->softDeletes()
•Mongo: Skip table migration, create index migration only
•Always index: slug, email, foreign keys </migration_strategy>

<controller_rules>

•Response: new <Name>Resource($model)
•Input: FormRequest only
•Routing: scoped bindings /users/{user}/posts/{post}
•Side effects: use Observer, not Controller </controller_rules>

<mongo_gotchas>

•No ->join() → use ->with() or embedding
•Careful with like → prefer regex/text search at volume
•Hybrid relations may fail → use manual lookups in Accessors </mongo_gotchas>