<objective> Covers Laravel 13 database migrations: the Schema Builder API for creating/modifying/dropping tables, the 50+ column types and modifiers, index types (primary, unique, fulltext, spatial), foreign key constraints with cascade options, Artisan migration commands, seeders, testing migrations, safe production rollout, troubleshooting, and enabling pgvector via Schema::ensureVectorExtensionExists() for vector columns (see laravel-vector-search for querying them). </objective>

Laravel Migrations

Agent Workflow (MANDATORY)

Before ANY implementation, spawn 3 agents in parallel, one Agent call each with a name:

1. fuse-ai-pilot:explore-codebase - Check existing migrations
2. fuse-ai-pilot:research-expert - Verify Laravel 13 patterns via Context7
3. mcp__context7__query-docs - Check specific Schema Builder features

After implementation, run fuse-ai-pilot:sniper for validation.

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Overview

| Feature | Description | |---------|-------------| | Schema Builder | Create, modify, drop tables | | Columns | 50+ column types with modifiers | | Indexes | Primary, unique, fulltext, spatial | | Foreign Keys | Constraints with cascade options | | Seeders | Populate tables with data |

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Critical Rules

1. Always define down() - Reversible migrations
2. Use foreignId()->constrained() - Not raw unsignedBigInteger
3. Add indexes on foreign keys - Performance critical
4. Test rollback before deploy - Validate down() works
5. Never modify deployed migrations - Create new ones

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Decision Guide

Migration Type

Need schema change?
├── New table → make:migration create_X_table
├── Add column → make:migration add_X_to_Y_table
├── Modify column → make:migration modify_X_in_Y_table
├── Add index → make:migration add_index_to_Y_table
└── Seed data → make:seeder XSeeder

Column Type Selection

| Use Case | Type | Example | |----------|------|---------| | Primary Key | id() | Auto-increment BIGINT | | Foreign Key | foreignId()->constrained() | References parent | | UUID Primary | uuid()->primary() | UUIDs | | Boolean | boolean() | is_active | | Enum | enum('status', [...]) | order_status | | JSON | json() | preferences | | Money | decimal('price', 10, 2) | 99999999.99 | | Timestamps | timestamps() | created_at, updated_at | | Soft Delete | softDeletes() | deleted_at |

Foreign Key Cascade

| Scenario | onDelete | Use Case | |----------|----------|----------| | Strict integrity | restrictOnDelete() | Financial records | | Auto-cleanup | cascadeOnDelete() | Post → Comments | | Preserve with null | nullOnDelete() | Optional relations | | No action | noActionOnDelete() | Audit logs |

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Reference Guide

Core Concepts

| Topic | Reference | When to Consult | |-------|-----------|-----------------| | Schema | schema.md | Table operations | | Columns | columns.md | Column types | | Indexes | indexes.md | Performance indexes | | Foreign Keys | foreign-keys.md | Constraints | | Commands | commands.md | Artisan commands | | Seeding | seeding.md | Populate data |

Advanced Topics

| Topic | Reference | When to Consult | |-------|-----------|-----------------| | Testing | testing.md | Test migrations | | Production | production.md | Deploy safely | | Troubleshooting | troubleshooting.md | Fix errors |

Templates

| Template | When to Use | |----------|-------------| | CreateTableMigration.php.md | New table | | ModifyTableMigration.php.md | Alter table | | PivotTableMigration.php.md | Many-to-many | | Seeder.php.md | Seed patterns | | MigrationTest.php.md | Test migrations |

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Quick Reference

Create Table

Schema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained()->cascadeOnDelete();
    $table->string('title');
    $table->text('content');
    $table->enum('status', ['draft', 'published'])->default('draft');
    $table->timestamps();
    $table->softDeletes();

    $table->index(['user_id', 'status']);
});

Modify Table

Schema::table('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->string('slug')->after('title')->unique();
    $table->boolean('featured')->default(false);
});

Commands

php artisan make:migration create_posts_table
php artisan migrate
php artisan migrate:rollback --step=1
php artisan migrate:fresh --seed

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Best Practices

DO

• Use foreignId()->constrained() for foreign keys
• Add composite indexes for common queries
• Test down() method before deploying
• Use --pretend to preview SQL

DON'T

• Modify already-deployed migrations
• Forget down() method
• Use raw SQL without Schema Builder
• Skip indexes on foreign keys

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Laravel 13 Notes

Schema::ensureVectorExtensionExists() (pgvector)

Laravel 13 exposes a helper to enable the pgvector extension on PostgreSQL from a migration. Useful for embeddings and semantic search.

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

return new class extends Migration {
    public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::ensureVectorExtensionExists();

        Schema::create('documents', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->id();
            $table->text('content');
            $table->vector('embedding', dimensions: 1536)->index(); // OpenAI text-embedding-3-small; HNSW cosine vector index
            $table->timestamps();
            // equivalent: $table->vectorIndex('embedding'); — removal: dropVectorIndex() (13.30+)
        });
    }
};

vector columns/indexes also work on MariaDB 11.7+ (no extension needed). See [[laravel-vector-search]] for whereVectorSimilarTo() queries.

What's new in Schema Builder 13.x

• $table->foreignUuidFor(User::class) (13.9+) and foreignUlidFor() (13.25+)
• Lock-free indexes: $table->string('email')->unique()->online(); (PostgreSQL / SQL Server)
• ->inplace() (13.33+, MySQL) on an index or foreign key for the INPLACE DDL algorithm