Schema Builder

Overview

The schema builder provides a fluent API for creating, altering, and dropping database tables in a database-agnostic way.

Creating Tables

schema := migration.Create("users", func(t *migration.Table) {
    t.BigIncrements("id")
    t.String("name").NotNull()
    t.String("email").Unique()
    t.Timestamps()
}).Build()
// Execute with: tx.Exec(schema)

Altering Tables

schema := migration.Alter("users", func(t *migration.Table) {
    t.String("phone").Nullable()
    t.Boolean("is_active").Default(true)
}).Build()

Dropping Tables

err := migration.Drop("users")
// Returns "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS users"

Renaming Tables

migration.Rename("old_name", "new_name")

Available Column Types

Method	Description
`Increments(name)`	Auto-incrementing integer (primary key)
`BigIncrements(name)`	Big auto-incrementing integer
`String(name, length)`	VARCHAR with optional length
`Text(name)`	TEXT field
`UUID(name)`	UUID field
`ULID(name)`	ULID field
`Integer(name)`	INT
`BigInteger(name)`	BIGINT
`TinyInt(name)`	TINYINT
`SmallInt(name)`	SMALLINT
`MediumInt(name)`	MEDIUMINT
`Binary(name)`	BLOB
`Boolean(name)`	BOOLEAN/TINYINT
`Char(name, length)`	CHAR with optional length
`DateTime(name, precision)`	DATETIME
`DateTimeTz(name, precision)`	DATETIME with timezone
`Date(name)`	DATE
`Time(name, precision)`	TIME
`Timestamp(name, precision)`	TIMESTAMP
`TimestampTz(name, precision)`	TIMESTAMP with timezone
`Decimal(name, precision, scale)`	DECIMAL
`Double(name)`	DOUBLE
`Float(name, precision)`	FLOAT
`Enum(name, values)`	ENUM
`UnsignedInteger(name)`	UNSIGNED INT
`UnsignedBigInteger(name)`	UNSIGNED BIGINT

Column Modifiers

t.String("email").Unique()
t.String("name").NotNull()
t.String("phone").Nullable()
t.Integer("age").Default(18)
t.String("status").Default("'active'")  // Note: SQL string literals need quotes
t.String("old_field").Change()           // Modify existing column

Important: String defaults use SQL syntax — Default("'active'") means the SQL literal 'active'.

Timestamps Helper

t.Timestamps()
// Adds: created_at TIMESTAMP NULL, updated_at TIMESTAMP NULL

t.SoftDeletes()
// Adds: deleted_at TIMESTAMP NULL

t.SoftDeletesTz(precision)
// Adds: deleted_at TIMESTAMPTZ(precision) NULL

Constraints

Primary Keys

t.PrimaryKey("id")
t.PrimaryKey("order_id", "product_id") // Composite
t.DropPrimaryKey("pk_name")             // Drop primary key

Indexes

t.Index("email")                         // Single column
t.Index("email", "status")               // Composite
t.DropIndex("index_name")                // Drop index

Unique Keys

t.UniqueKey("email")                     // Single column
t.UniqueKey("email", "status")           // Composite
t.DropUniqueKey("unique_key_name")       // Drop unique

Foreign Keys

t.Foreign("user_id").References("id").On("users").OnDelete("cascade")
t.ForeignID("user_id").Constrained()
// Convenience: references id on the pluralized table name

Full foreign key API:

t.Foreign("user_id").
    References("id").
    On("users").
    OnDelete("cascade").
    OnUpdate("restrict")

t.ForeignID("user_id").
    Constrained()                           // Uses conventions
    ConstrainedFunc(func(fk *foreignKey) {  // Custom
        fk.OnDelete("set null")
    })

Helper Methods

t.ID()
// Shortcut for BigIncrements("id")

t.StringTimestamps()
// created_at DATETIME, updated_at DATETIME (not nullable)

Migrations Column Types Reference