Getting Started with Laravel Migrations: A Beginner's Guide

If you're just starting with Laravel, you've likely heard the term "migrations" — and you might be wondering:

What are Laravel migrations and why should I care?

This post will walk you through the basics, helping you confidently create and manage database schemas using Laravel’s migration system.

🚀 What Are Migrations?

Migrations are Laravel’s way of version-controlling your database schema using PHP code instead of raw SQL.

Think of them like Git for your database tables:

You can create, modify, and remove tables through migration files.
You can share those changes with your team.
You can track and rollback changes easily.

They make your database predictable, portable, and team-friendly.

How to Create a Migration

Run the following Artisan command in your Laravel project:

php artisan make:migration create_users_table

This will generate a file in the database/migrations/ directory, named something like:

2025_07_19_000000_create_users_table.php

The timestamp keeps migrations in order — Laravel runs them sequentially.

Writing the Schema

The generated migration file will have two methods: up() and down().

Here’s an example:

public function up(): void {
    Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('name');
        $table->string('email')->unique();
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

public function down(): void {
    Schema::dropIfExists('users');
}

up(): defines what happens when you run the migration.
down(): defines how to revert that change (rollback).

This design ensures changes can be reversed when needed.

Running the Migration

To apply all pending migrations:

php artisan migrate

Laravel will execute the up() methods of all migration files that haven’t been run yet.

Need to rollback the last migration batch?

php artisan migrate:rollback

Want a fresh start?

php artisan migrate:fresh

👉 These commands are life-savers when experimenting or testing.

🧩 Making Schema Changes Later

Let’s say you want to add a new column to the users table:

php artisan make:migration add_profile_to_users_table

Inside the file:

public function up(): void {
    Schema::table('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->text('profile')->nullable();
    });
}

public function down(): void {
    Schema::table('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->dropColumn('profile');
    });
}

✅ Best Practices for Migrations

Use clear, descriptive names (create_users_table, not something_table)
Always define the down() method to support rollbacks
Use migrations along with seeders for a complete local setup
Use --create= and --table= options to scaffold with intent

Why Migrations Matter

In real-world applications, databases evolve constantly.

Migrations make schema changes:

Predictable — you're not modifying tables manually
Portable — changes are shared through code
Safe — rollbacks are built-in
Trackable — full history lives in Git

Once you start using them, you won’t go back to manual DB changes.

Final Thoughts

Laravel migrations are one of the most powerful tools in the framework — and they’re built to be beginner-friendly.

So go ahead:

Create a new migration
Write your schema
Run php artisan migrate
Start building!

Have any questions about migrations? Drop them in the comments.

🔗 Resources

🧩 GitHub Example

Want a working demo? 👉 Laravel Controllers Example on GitHub

🙌 Let’s Connect!

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