How To Work with JSON in MySQL

MySQL 5.7.8+ supports a native JSON data type that bridges relational and document-style storage. This tutorial walks through creating a database schema with a JSON column, then demonstrates CRUD operations using MySQL's built-in JSON functions: JSON_OBJECT, JSON_ARRAY, JSON_MERGE_PRESERVE for creating data; JSON_EXTRACT (and the -> operator) for querying; JSON_INSERT, JSON_REPLACE, and JSON_SET for updating; and JSON_REMOVE for deleting specific keys. The second half covers integrating this with Laravel's Eloquent ORM, including migrations with json() column type, model casting of JSON to arrays, and querying JSON attributes using the attributes->key syntax in where clauses.