Models

Sloth models represent WordPress custom post types as Eloquent models. Under the hood, Sloth builds on Corcel — a Laravel package that maps WordPress database tables to Eloquent models. If you've used Eloquent before, models will feel immediately familiar.

Generating a model

wp sloth make:model Project

This creates app/Model/Project.php (Classic mode) or theme/Model/Project.php (Theme mode) with sensible defaults.

Creating a model manually

Drop a class extending Sloth\Model\Model into app/Model/ or theme/Model/ and Sloth registers it automatically as a WordPress custom post type.

<?php

namespace App\Model;

use Sloth\Model\Model;

class Project extends Model
{
    // Singular and plural labels — used to generate all WordPress admin labels
    public static $names = [
        'singular' => 'Project',
        'plural'   => 'Projects',
    ];

    // Dashicon for the admin menu
    public static $icon = 'dashicons-portfolio';

    // Any valid register_post_type() argument
    public static $options = [
        'supports' => ['title', 'editor', 'thumbnail'],
        'has_archive' => true,
    ];
}

The post type slug is derived from the class name — Project becomes project. Override it explicitly if needed:

public static $postType = 'my-project';

Querying

Sloth applies a global scope automatically: non-logged-in users always see published posts only. You don't need to add ->published() in your templates.

// All projects (published for guests, all statuses for logged-in users)
Project::all();

// With explicit scopes
Project::published()->get();
Project::status('draft')->get();

// By slug
Project::slug('my-project')->first();
Project::findBySlugOrId('my-project')->first();

// By taxonomy
Project::taxonomy('category', 'featured')->get();
Project::taxonomy('post_tag', ['php', 'wordpress'])->get();

// Search across title, excerpt and content
Project::search('keyword')->get();

// Ordering
Project::orderBy('post_date', 'desc')->get();
Project::orderByMeta('priority', 'asc')->get();

// Pagination
Project::paginate(12);

Accessing fields

$project = Project::slug('my-project')->first();

// Built-in aliases
$project->title;        // post_title
$project->content;      // post_content (with the_content filters applied)
$project->excerpt;      // post_excerpt (shortcodes stripped)
$project->slug;         // post_name
$project->status;       // post_status
$project->created_at;   // post_date
$project->updated_at;   // post_modified
$project->permalink;    // get_permalink()
$project->image;        // featured image as Image object

// Post meta — direct access falls back to meta automatically
$project->my_key;

// ACF fields — resolved automatically
$project->my_acf_field;
$project->acf->my_acf_field; // via AcfProxy

ACF integration

ACF fields are resolved automatically on model retrieval. No extra code needed — just access the field by name:

$project->my_acf_field;

Fields are cached per model instance. To access the raw ACF proxy:

$project->acf->my_acf_field;

Meta fields

// Read — direct access falls back to meta automatically
$project->my_key;

// Write
$project->saveMeta('my_key', 'value');
$project->saveMeta([
    'key_one' => 'value one',
    'key_two' => 'value two',
]);

// Query by meta
Project::hasMeta('featured', true)->get();
Project::hasMeta('status', 'active')->get();
Project::hasMetaLike('title', '%important%')->get();

Relationships

// Taxonomies
$project->taxonomies;
$project->terms;         // grouped by taxonomy: ['category' => ['slug' => 'name']]
$project->main_category; // first term name

// Author
$project->author;

// Hierarchical
$project->parent;
$project->children;

// Media
$project->attachment;
$project->thumbnail;

Taxonomies

Taxonomies follow the same convention — drop a class into app/Taxonomy/ or theme/Taxonomy/ and Sloth registers it automatically.

<?php

namespace App\Taxonomy;

use Sloth\Model\Taxonomy;

class ProjectCategory extends Taxonomy
{
    public static $names = [
        'singular' => 'Category',
        'plural'   => 'Categories',
    ];

    // Attach to one or more post types
    public static $postTypes = ['project'];

    // Only one term can be selected per post (radio instead of checkbox)
    public static $unique = false;

    public static $options = [
        'hierarchical' => true,
        'show_in_rest' => true,
    ];
}

Query posts by taxonomy term:

Project::taxonomy('projectcategory', 'featured')->get();

Access taxonomy terms on a model:

$project->terms;
// ['projectcategory' => ['featured' => 'Featured']]

Registration options

Property	Type	Description
$names	array	singular and plural — used to generate WordPress admin labels
$options	array	Any valid register_post_type() / register_taxonomy() argument
$labels	array	Override auto-generated labels entirely
$icon	string	Dashicon for the admin menu (models only)
$register	bool	Set to false to use a class for querying only, without registration
$postType	string	Explicit post type slug (models only, defaults to lowercase class name)
$postTypes	array	Post types this taxonomy is attached to (taxonomies only)
$unique	bool	Single-value taxonomy — replaces checkbox metabox with radio buttons (taxonomies only)
$layotter	array|bool	Layotter page builder config — see Layotter (models only)

Further reading

• Corcel — the Eloquent WordPress layer Sloth builds on
• Laravel Eloquent — full Eloquent documentation

:::tip Production deployment After deploying new or renamed models or taxonomies, run wp sloth manifest:clear to regenerate the manifest cache. See Auto-Discovery. :::