PHP

Laravel migrations, drawn as a database diagram

Timestamped PHP migrations using the Schema builder, as php artisan make:migration creates them. SchemaDrawer runs Laravel's illuminate/database 13 on PHP 8.4 against a throw-away database of the engine you choose and returns an SVG of the schema it produces.

Get startedLaravel documentation

What to upload

Upload the migrations directory: files named <timestamp>_<title>.php that return an anonymous class extending Migration, as php artisan make:migration writes them. The older named-class form works as well. Subdirectories are scanned and all files are sorted by name.

The sample below is the PetClinic schema written for Laravel, one of the sets SchemaDrawer's own tests draw on every engine:

database/migrations/
├── 2024_01_01_000001_create_owners_and_pets.php
├── 2024_01_02_000002_create_vets.php
└── 2024_01_03_000003_create_visits.php

Formats

PHP files using the Schema builder and Blueprint.

How it runs

Illuminate's Migrator, driven by a small script instead of php artisan migrate. The database is a fresh PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle or SQLite container in the version you ask for; nothing of yours is touched.

Databases you can draw Laravel on

PostgreSQL 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 MySQL 8.0, 8.4, 9 MariaDB 10.6, 11.4, 11.8, 12 SQL Server 2017, 2019, 2022, 2025 Oracle SQLite

Not offered for Laravel: Oracle. The tool ships no driver for it, so nothing could run.

At a glance

Runs
Laravel's illuminate/database 13 on PHP 8.4, without a full Laravel application
API value
migrationType=LARAVEL
Engines
5 of 6: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, SQLite
Output
SVG diagram with tables, columns and types, primary and foreign keys
Price
Free today; enterprise plans are coming
Example

The PetClinic schema in Laravel

Owners, pets, types, vets, specialties and visits: the same seven tables every sample set on this site creates. These are the exact files the tests upload.

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

return new class extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     */
    public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::create('owners', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->integer('id');
            $table->string('first_name', 50);
            $table->string('last_name', 50);
            $table->string('address', 255)->nullable();
            $table->string('city', 80)->nullable();
            $table->string('telephone', 20)->nullable();

            $table->primary('id');
        });

        Schema::create('types', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->integer('id');
            $table->string('name', 80);

            $table->primary('id');
        });

        Schema::create('pets', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->integer('id');
            $table->string('name', 50);
            $table->date('birth_date')->nullable();
            $table->integer('type_id');
            $table->integer('owner_id');

            $table->primary('id');
            $table->foreign('type_id')->references('id')->on('types');
            $table->foreign('owner_id')->references('id')->on('owners');
        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     */
    public function down(): void
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('pets');
        Schema::dropIfExists('types');
        Schema::dropIfExists('owners');
    }
};

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

return new class extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     */
    public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::create('vets', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->integer('id');
            $table->string('first_name', 50);
            $table->string('last_name', 50);

            $table->primary('id');
        });

        Schema::create('specialties', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->integer('id');
            $table->string('name', 80);

            $table->primary('id');
        });

        Schema::create('vet_specialties', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->integer('vet_id');
            $table->integer('specialty_id');

            $table->primary(['vet_id', 'specialty_id']);
            $table->foreign('vet_id')->references('id')->on('vets');
            $table->foreign('specialty_id')->references('id')->on('specialties');
        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     */
    public function down(): void
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('vet_specialties');
        Schema::dropIfExists('specialties');
        Schema::dropIfExists('vets');
    }
};

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

return new class extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     */
    public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::create('visits', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->integer('id');
            $table->integer('pet_id');
            $table->date('visit_date')->nullable();
            $table->string('description', 255)->nullable();

            $table->primary('id');
            $table->foreign('pet_id')->references('id')->on('pets');
        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     */
    public function down(): void
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('visits');
    }
};
diagram.svg
ER diagram of the PetClinic schema drawn by SchemaDrawer: owners, pets, types, vets, specialties, vet_specialties and visits with their columns, primary keys and foreign keys

Every variant of the sample produces these seven tables. This diagram was drawn from the Flyway variant on PostgreSQL 18; on MySQL the types read INT and VARCHAR, on Oracle the names are upper case.

Run it

Draw your Laravel migrations

One multipart request queues the drawing; poll the job until it succeeds and download the SVG. Or let the GitHub Action do it and open a pull request with the diagram.

With curl

curl -X POST https://schemadrawer.com/api/v1/drawing \
  -H "Request-Id: $(uuidgen)" \
  -F "userId=5f0c1d2e-3a4b-4c5d-8e6f-7a8b9c0d1e2f" \
  -F "migrationType=LARAVEL" \
  -F "databaseType=POSTGRESQL" \
  -F "version=18" \
  -F "files=@database/migrations/2024_01_01_000001_create_owners_and_pets.php" \
  -F "files=@database/migrations/2024_01_02_000002_create_vets.php" \
  -F "files=@database/migrations/2024_01_03_000003_create_visits.php"
# {"jobId":"0b6e2f4c-8d1a-4c3e-9f7a-2a5b6c7d8e9f"}

Then poll GET https://schemadrawer.com/api/v1/drawing/{jobId} until status is SUCCESS and fetch diagramUrl. Details in the getting started guide and the API reference.

With the GitHub Action

- uses: schemadrawercom/action@v1
  with:
    sql-directory: database/migrations
    output-path: docs/schema-diagram.svg
    migration-type: LARAVEL
    database-type: POSTGRESQL
    database-version: '18'
    github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

The action uploads the directory, waits for the diagram and opens a pull request with the SVG. See the action reference.

Good to know

  • Only the database layer is available: the DB and Schema facades and Eloquent. A migration that needs your application's container, config or models cannot run.
  • The migrations table is left out of the diagram, so a table of your own with that name would disappear too.
  • A drawing may take up to 120 seconds; a job that waits in the queue longer than 10 minutes fails rather than draws. Uploads of up to 100 MB and 2000 files are accepted.
From the blog

Reading about Laravel and migrations

Migration tools7 min read

Laravel Migrations: Best Practices for Teams

Practical rules for Laravel migrations in a team: one change per file, constrained foreign keys, frozen history, schema dumps, safe production runs and tests.

Draw your Laravel schema now

Upload the migration directory, get an SVG back. Free while we build it.

Get started See examples