Laravel Database Field Types Reference

A Laravel database field types reference for migration column types and modifiers in the Schema builder.

Laravel Reference

Fundamentals

Data

Validation & Security

Automation & Communication

Defining a migration

php artisan make:migration create_posts_table

Schema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained()->cascadeOnDelete();
    $table->string('title');
    $table->text('body');
    $table->boolean('published')->default(false);
    $table->timestamps();
});

php artisan migrate

Common column types

Method	SQL type / purpose
`id()`	Auto-incrementing `BIGINT UNSIGNED` primary key named `id`.
`foreignId('user_id')`	`BIGINT UNSIGNED` sized to match `id()`, for foreign keys.
`string('name', 255)`	`VARCHAR`, default length 255.
`text('body')`	`TEXT` — longer, unbounded content.
`longText('content')`	`LONGTEXT` for very large content.
`integer('votes')`	Standard signed `INT`.
`unsignedInteger('votes')`	Unsigned `INT` — no negative values.
`bigInteger('views')`	Signed `BIGINT`.
`tinyInteger('flag')`	Small integer, often used for compact enums/flags.
`boolean('active')`	`TINYINT(1)`, cast to PHP `bool`.
`decimal('price', 8, 2)`	Fixed-precision decimal — use for money, never `float`.
`float('rating', 8, 2)` / `double(...)`	Floating-point numbers — approximate, avoid for currency.
`date('published_on')`	Date only, no time component.
`dateTime('published_at')`	Date and time, no timezone awareness.
`timestamp('verified_at')`	Like `dateTime`, but with timezone-related database behavior.
`timestamps()`	Adds nullable `created_at` and `updated_at` timestamp columns.
`softDeletes()`	Adds a nullable `deleted_at` column for the `SoftDeletes` trait.
`json('metadata')`	Native `JSON` column, pairs with an Eloquent `array`/`object` cast.
`uuid('external_id')`	`CHAR(36)` for storing a UUID string.
`enum('status', [...])`	Restricts the column to a fixed list of string values.
`foreignIdFor(Model::class)`	Adds a foreign key column named after the given model.

Column modifiers

Chain these onto most column definitions to adjust their behavior:

Modifier	Effect
`nullable()`	Allows `NULL` to be stored (columns are `NOT NULL` by default).
`default($value)`	Sets a default value used when none is provided on insert.
`unsigned()`	Disallows negative values on numeric columns.
`unique()`	Adds a unique index on the column.
`index()`	Adds a plain (non-unique) index for faster lookups.
`comment('...')`	Attaches a comment to the column in the database schema.
`after('column')`	Positions the column after another (MySQL only).
`useCurrent()`	Defaults a timestamp column to `CURRENT_TIMESTAMP`.

Foreign keys

$table->foreignId('user_id')
    ->constrained()          // references users.id by convention
    ->cascadeOnDelete();     // or ->nullOnDelete(), ->restrictOnDelete()

// Explicit form
$table->foreign('user_id')
    ->references('id')->on('users')
    ->onDelete('cascade');

Modifying an existing table

Schema::table('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->string('slug')->after('title')->nullable();
});

// Requires doctrine/dbal on older Laravel versions; built in on recent ones
Schema::table('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->renameColumn('body', 'content');
});