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).

Choosing an engine

Engine	Image	Port	Notes
MySQL	mysql:8.4 (LTS)	3306	World's most popular open-source DB — see below
MariaDB	mariadb:11.8 (LTS)	3306	Community MySQL fork, same security defaults — see below
PostgreSQL	postgres:17.9	5432	Advanced SQL features, strong JSON support
Redis	redis:7.4	6379	Cache/queue/session store, not a primary DB

MySQL

LaraKube CLI provides a hardened MySQL setup: a dedicated laravel application user (never root) with scoped permissions, credentials managed via Kubernetes Secret resources (never plain text), and a mysqladmin ping readiness probe so the database is fully ready before your application starts.

To connect a GUI client to your local instance:

larakube tunnel mysql

Then use host 127.0.0.1, user laravel, database laravel.

MariaDB

MariaDB gets the same security treatment as MySQL — a scoped laravel application user created automatically, encrypted secrets injected into the cluster, and the current LTS version pinned for stability.

To connect a GUI client to your local instance:

larakube tunnel mariadb

Then use host 127.0.0.1, user laravel, database laravel.

📅 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.