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Database Overview

Choosing the right foundation is critical for your application's success. LaraKube CLI supports a variety of server-based database engines, each with automated persistence and secure credential management.

🏛 Architectural Structure​

LaraKube CLI distinguishes between your Primary and Additional databases:

  1. Primary Database: The engine linked to your Laravel application's main DB_CONNECTION. When you run larakube new, your first selection becomes the primary.
  2. Additional Databases: You can have multiple database engines running in the same project. This is useful for data migration, testing different engines, or specialized micro-services.

Intelligent Swapping​

If you decide to change your primary database (e.g., from MySQL to Postgres), the add command will intelligently guide you:

  • It keeps both engines running in your cluster.
  • It offers to update your .env connection strings.
  • It provides a "Migration Mode" that comments out the new connection so you can manually migrate data before flipping the switch.

💾 Persistence Strategy (Stability-First)​

LaraKube CLI uses a "Managed Volume" approach to eliminate the most common pain points of local Kubernetes development:

  1. Durable Data: Your data is stored in your cluster provider's native storage pool (PVC). It survives larakube stop, pod crashes, and server restarts.
  2. Zero Permission Conflicts: By avoiding Mac-to-Container "bind mounts" (hostPath) for databases, we eliminate the "Permission Denied" and ownership errors that typically plague local development.
  3. Production Parity: This approach ensures your local storage architecture behaves exactly like a professional cloud-managed database (e.g., AWS EBS or GCP Persistent Disk).

📅 Versioning Strategy​

We prioritize stability and security. All our stubs are pinned to the most recent stable Long-Term Support (LTS) versions:

Databases​

  • PostgreSQL: 17.9 (Standard)
  • MySQL: 8.4 (LTS)
  • MariaDB: 11.8 (LTS)
  • MongoDB: 8.0
  • Redis: 7.4 (Standard)

🔄 Infrastructure Evolution​

LaraKube CLI projects are designed to grow. You can add a new database engine to your cluster at any time using the add command:

larakube add mysql

LaraKube CLI will scaffold the new engine and offer to automatically update your .env to make it your primary connection.