What is the purpose of the app/Models directory in Laravel?

In a Laravel application, the app/Models directory is typically used to store Eloquent models. Eloquent is Laravel's ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) system, which provides a straightforward way to interact with your database. Each model represents a table in your database and includes methods for querying and manipulating the data.

Here’s a breakdown of its purpose:

1. Encapsulation of Business Logic: Models encapsulate the business logic and database interactions related to a specific entity. This keeps your code organized and maintains separation of concerns.

2. Database Interactions: Models allow you to define relationships between different tables (e.g., one-to-many, many-to-many) and perform database operations such as querying, inserting, updating, and deleting records.

3. Validation and Accessors/Mutators: Models can include validation logic, accessors, and mutators to handle data transformation and ensure that data is in the correct format when being saved or retrieved.

4. Custom Methods: You can add custom methods to models to encapsulate complex queries or business logic that is specific to that model.

By keeping your models in the app/Models directory, Laravel helps maintain a clean structure and ensures that your application’s data interactions are well-organized.