Pivot Data and Eager Loading: Efficient Many-to-Many Queries

Sometimes pivot tables store extra data: - assigned_at - created_by - quantity ## Add pivot fields ```php public function tags() { return $this->belongsToMany(Tag::class) ->withPivot('assigned_at') ->withTimestamps(); } ``` ## Avoid N+1 with eager loading ```php $posts = Post::with('tags')->latest()->get(); ``` ## Graph: query count control ```mermaid flowchart TD A[Load Posts] --> B[Load Tags in bulk] B --> C[Render UI] ``` In the next tutorial, we will use database constraints to enforce data integrity.