README

🧱 Original project launched in May 2020. Recently reactivated and extended with full CI coverage and support for PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MSSQL and MySQL 8.

✅ CI: Successfully tested across MySQL 5.7/8.0, PostgreSQL 15, and MSSQL 2022 – on Laravel 12-13 and PHP 8.3–8.5.

📦 Overview

Laravel Migration Generator
A powerful CLI tool to generate Laravel migration files from an existing MySQL, PostgreSQL or MSSQL database.

This tool provides a structured and extensible approach to reverse‑engineering database schemas into Laravel‑compatible migration files. It supports foreign key constraints, correct dependency order and customizable mapping logic – enabling seamless integration into both legacy and modern Laravel projects (Laravel 5–13 supported).

✨ Features

• ✅ Detects tables, columns, indexes and foreign keys with precision
• 🔄 Automatically orders migrations to maintain referential integrity
• 🧱 Extensible design via modular definition/mapping architecture
• 🧩 Supports Laravel 5 to 12 (EOL versions maintained in read‑only mode)
• 🛠 Clean, testable and maintainable codebase
• 🧠 Optional schema normalization (via --normalizer=), including:
  • Synthetic primary keys for legacy tables with composite keys
  • Automatic preservation of uniqueness constraints
  • Better Eloquent compatibility for complex schemas

🔍 Feature Comparison

TL;DR: If you need clean, testable, and modern Laravel migration exports across multiple DB engines – this tool is a solid and extensible choice.

📊 Version Compatibility

⚠️ Important: Version 8.0.0 introduces breaking API changes for Laravel 10–12.
All supported Laravel versions receive the new features and updated APIs, requiring updates to dependent code.

✅ Database Compatibility

The generator works with all major engines:

MySQL

PostgreSQL

MSSQL

EOL database versions remain functional for legacy compatibility.

⚙ Requirements

• PHP ≥ 8.3
  • pdo_mysql, pdo_pgsql or pdo_sqlsrv (depending on your database)
• MySQL ≥ 5.7, PostgreSQL 15 or MSSQL 2022

🧰 Installation

Install the package via Composer:

composer require n3xt0r/laravel-migration-generator --dev

Laravel will auto-discover the service provider. No manual registration is needed.

For Lumen, register the service provider manually in bootstrap/app.php:

$app->register(\N3XT0R\MigrationGenerator\Providers\MigrationGeneratorServiceProvider::class);

🚀 Usage

Run the migration generator via Artisan:

php artisan migrate:regenerate

This command will generate migration files from your existing database schema into the database/migrations/ folder. The files will be ordered automatically to maintain referential integrity – no manual reordering required.

⚙️ Custom Export Strategy

If the default export does not meet your needs, the generator is fully extensible. You can override the export logic through Laravel's Dependency Injection container.

🔧 Configuration

First, publish the configuration file:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=migration-generator-config

Edit config/migration-generator.php to adjust or override definitions and mappings.

🧩 Export Architecture

The export process is divided into two customizable layers:

Definition Classes

These classes extract schema information into a universal, internal representation. This format is decoupled from Laravel and can be reused, extended, or mapped differently.

Mapping Classes

These classes transform the internal representation into valid Laravel migration code (PHP). You can override them to adjust formatting, naming conventions, or structure.

🧰 Schema Normalizers

Schema Normalizers are optional pre-processing steps that transform your database schema before migration generation. They can help adapt legacy structures for better Laravel compatibility.

Available Normalizers

Usage

Enable a normalizer via CLI:

php artisan migrate:regenerate --normalizer=pivot

Or configure it in config/migration-generator.php:

'normalizer' => [
    'enabled' => ['pivot'],
],

🧪 Testing

To run the tests:

# mysql 5.7
DB_CONNECTION=mysql DB_HOST=db_migration DB_PASSWORD=your_password ./vendor/bin/phpunit

# mysql 8
DB_CONNECTION=mysql DB_HOST=mysql8 DB_PASSWORD=your_password ./vendor/bin/phpunit

#postgres
DB_CONNECTION=pgsql DB_HOST=postgres DB_PASSWORD=your_password ./vendor/bin/phpunit

# mssql
DB_CONNECTION=sqlsrv DB_HOST=mssql DB_PASSWORD=your_password ./vendor/bin/phpunit

Docker and CI pipelines are already integrated for continuous validation and quality assurance.

Key CI features include:

• Dynamic installation of Laravel versions during test runs via Composer.
• Support for PHPUnit 10 and 11, automatically selected per Laravel version.
• Full code coverage reporting with Xdebug and Clover.
• Version-aware assertions adapting test expectations based on Laravel version.

ℹ️ Composer Compatibility Strategy

Although the root composer.json targets Laravel 12 by default, earlier Laravel versions (10, 11) are tested in CI using dynamic version installation:

run: composer require laravel/framework:^${{ matrix.laravel }} --no-interaction --no-update

This ensures flexible version handling while keeping the default installation aligned with the latest stable Laravel release.

🧪 Version-Aware Assertions

Table-based tests (e.g., migration sorting or detection) dynamically adjust expected values based on the Laravel version:

$expectedTables = match (true) {
    str_starts_with(Application::VERSION, '10.') => [...],
    default => [...], // Laravel 11+
};

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

🙌 Contributions

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests to improve the generator, add new database support or enhance the customization layers.

🔗 Links

• 📦 Packagist Package
• 🧪 CI & Test Coverage
• 📘 Laravel Documentation

This README reflects the repository’s current features, including explicit support for MySQL, PostgreSQL and MSSQL, correct PDO extensions and updated CI information.