SQL Conventions for Laravel

June 26, 2024

When working with Laravel, following consistent SQL conventions is crucial for maintaining a clean and efficient database structure. Below are some recommended conventions for naming tables, columns, keys, and indexing in a Laravel application.

1. Table Names:
   • Plural, snake_case (e.g., users, posts)
2. Column Names:
   • Snake_case (e.g., user_id, created_at)
3. Primary Keys:
   • id, auto-incrementing integer
4. Foreign Keys:
   • Related table name + _id (e.g., user_id)
5. Timestamps:
   • created_at, updated_at
6. User Table:

   CREATE TABLE users (
       id BIGINT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
       name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
       email VARCHAR(255) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
       password VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
       remember_token VARCHAR(100),
       created_at TIMESTAMP NULL,
       updated_at TIMESTAMP NULL
   );
   

7. Posts Table:

   CREATE TABLE posts (
       id BIGINT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
       user_id BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
       title VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
       body TEXT NOT NULL,
       created_at TIMESTAMP NULL,
       updated_at TIMESTAMP NULL,
       FOREIGN KEY (user_id) REFERENCES users(id)
   );
   

8. Pivot Table:

   CREATE TABLE role_user (
       user_id BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
       role_id BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
       PRIMARY KEY (user_id, role_id),
       FOREIGN KEY (user_id) REFERENCES users(id),
       FOREIGN KEY (role_id) REFERENCES roles(id)
   );
   

9. Indexing Conventions:
   • Define primary key (e.g., PRIMARY KEY (id))
   • Index foreign keys (e.g., INDEX (user_id))
   • Unique indexes for unique columns (e.g., UNIQUE (email))
10. Data Types Conventions:
    • BIGINT UNSIGNED for primary keys, INT UNSIGNED for foreign keys
    • VARCHAR(255) for variable-length strings, TEXT for longer texts
    • TIMESTAMP, nullable by default for optional timestamps

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