Create migrations and models from existing database

I think You should write it manually, There might not be something for changing database structure to migration file.

If your database exists why bother with migrations?

Just create a model for each table and specify the table and primary key if they are not conventional. https://laravel.com/docs/5.2/eloquent#eloquent-model-conventions

You might want a migration if you want to include timestamps but thats optional

@rabol as Snapey said: if the tables exist you dont need a migration, and the model is pretty straight forward.

Unless perhaps you do need to re-create the db within laravel?

There are quite a few generator packages out there if you want something to scaffold the whole caboodle. I just now came across this one which seems to be "all singing and all dancing" and will scaffold from an existing db. I havent tried it tho:

http://labs.infyom.com/laravelgenerator/

regards

l.

For creating migrations from existing database tables I use laravel-migration-generator , models I create manually. If your tables have data you want to seed, I use:

exec("mysql -u ".\Config::get('database.mysql.user')." -p".\Config::get('database.mysql.password')." ".\Config::get('database.mysql.database')." < script.sql")

Which I found in this question

Hi

Thanks for all the suggestions.

It might not have been 100% clear, but as mentioned it is an old 'plain' PHP application that I would like to re-factor in Laravel, so some of the tables can be used as is, others needs to be re-factored, therefor I would like to create migrations for all the tables, manually re factor the tables that needs to be fixed, then create a new database with the refactored and do 'data migration'

I think I have a few things that I can start with, so thanks!

If you are using MySQL and Laravel 5.1 or above you can use php artisan code:models from this package reliese/laravel. All you need to do is:

1. composer require reliese/laravel
2. Add the service provider to your config/app.php file Reliese\Coders\CodersServiceProvider::class
3. Publish the config file with php artisan vendor:publish --tag=reliese-models
4. Make sure your database is correctly configured in config/database.php and .env files.
5. And finally issue the command: php artisan code:models

This package will scan your database and create all models for you. If you need something more specific, you can customize its config file.

Hope this helps :)

Hello @rabol,

We used this package to fulfill a similar requirement. It is much helpful but requires some additional work to generate migrations from existing database.

We've now made it lot more simpler, please have a look at this project on GitHub or visit the live instance at following link.

It's now as simple as 1-2-3:

1. Upload dump file (.sql) of your existing MySQL Database
2. Select tables for which you want to generate Laravel Migrations
3. Download Migrations

Live Instance: http://vizrex.com/tools/mysql-to-laravel

I wrote this quick script to make migration files out of an existing database :) https://github.com/aljorhythm/sql-to-laravel-migrations

Hi @rabol,

Did you use any of the methods offered? Which one did you find most helpful for you?

Thanks for sharing your experience :).

Do you have a well structed database and you want to make a Laravel Application on top of it. Then this tool will help you a lot to generate laravel code.

https://github.com/digitaldreams/laracrud

@HERO21 - @hero21, We can generate migrations form Database tables using Xethron

Check this reference link: https://github.com/Xethron/migrations-generator

Simple solution! Laravel online migration generator. It really simple, just enter your existing SQL table schema and get Laravel migration file.

Try: https://laravelarticle.com/laravel-migration-generator-online

Generating migration files from an existing database make total sense to me. I have done so once because I created a new project with an existing database. And I need the migration files to create an run PHPUnit test cases.

If anyone needs to do so in 2025, I have had very positive experiences with this package: https://github.com/bennett-treptow/laravel-migration-generator