Laravel Migration Column Types Cheat Sheet

Laravel’s schema builder lets you declare column types with a fluent API. Below is a reference cheat sheet of the most-used methods on the Blueprint object — what they create, when to use them, and the modifiers (nullable, default, unsigned) that apply to most types.

Contents

IDs and timestamps
Strings and text
Numbers
Dates and times
Booleans, enums, binary
Foreign keys (modern form)
Column modifiers
Frequently asked questions
Related guides
References

Last verified: 2026-05-17 on Laravel 11. Originally published 2022-09-11, rewritten and updated 2026-05-17.

IDs and timestamps

$table->id();                       // unsigned BIGINT auto-increment primary key, named "id"
$table->bigIncrements('id');        // explicit form of id()
$table->increments('id');           // unsigned INT auto-increment primary key
$table->uuid('id')->primary();      // UUID primary key

$table->timestamps();               // adds created_at + updated_at (TIMESTAMP)
$table->timestampsTz();             // TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE (PostgreSQL-aware)
$table->nullableTimestamps();       // same as timestamps(), but nullable
$table->softDeletes();              // adds deleted_at (nullable TIMESTAMP) for soft deletes
$table->rememberToken();            // adds remember_token VARCHAR(100) NULL

Laravel migration column types — ids, strings, numbers, foreign keys, timestamps, modifiers

Strings and text

$table->string('email');            // VARCHAR(255)
$table->string('name', 100);        // VARCHAR(100)
$table->char('code', 4);            // CHAR(4) — fixed-length

$table->text('body');               // TEXT — up to 64 KB
$table->mediumText('body');         // MEDIUMTEXT — up to 16 MB
$table->longText('body');           // LONGTEXT — up to 4 GB

$table->json('payload');            // JSON column (MySQL 5.7+, MariaDB 10.2+, PostgreSQL)
$table->jsonb('payload');           // JSONB — PostgreSQL only, indexed

Numbers

$table->integer('votes');           // INTEGER
$table->bigInteger('votes');        // BIGINT
$table->smallInteger('votes');      // SMALLINT
$table->tinyInteger('votes');       // TINYINT
$table->mediumInteger('count');     // MEDIUMINT

$table->unsignedBigInteger('uid');  // BIGINT UNSIGNED
$table->unsignedInteger('count');   // INT UNSIGNED

$table->decimal('amount', 10, 2);   // DECIMAL(10,2) — money, exact
$table->float('rate');              // FLOAT — approximate
$table->double('coord', 15, 8);     // DOUBLE — high-precision approximate

For money, use decimal — floats accumulate rounding errors. For coordinates and physics, double with high precision.

Dates and times

$table->date('birthday');           // DATE
$table->dateTime('starts_at');      // DATETIME
$table->time('opens_at');           // TIME
$table->timestamp('confirmed_at');  // TIMESTAMP
$table->year('graduated');          // YEAR (MySQL-specific)

Booleans, enums, binary

$table->boolean('is_active');                 // TINYINT(1) on MySQL, native BOOLEAN on PG
$table->enum('status', ['draft', 'live']);    // ENUM — MySQL-specific; consider check constraints instead
$table->binary('data');                       // BLOB

Foreign keys (modern form)

// Recommended — single line
$table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained();

// With ON DELETE cascade
$table->foreignId('post_id')
    ->constrained()
    ->cascadeOnDelete();

// Pointing at a non-conventional column
$table->foreignUuid('account_id')
    ->constrained('accounts', 'uuid')
    ->cascadeOnDelete();

// Polymorphic
$table->morphs('taggable');             // adds taggable_id (BIGINT) + taggable_type (VARCHAR)
$table->nullableMorphs('taggable');     // same, but both nullable

Column modifiers

$table->string('email')->nullable();          // allow NULL
$table->integer('count')->default(0);         // default value
$table->integer('age')->unsigned();           // no negative values
$table->string('slug')->unique();             // UNIQUE constraint
$table->string('email')->index();             // index for searching
$table->text('summary')->after('title');      // place after a specific column (MySQL)
$table->string('note')->comment('Internal'); // attach a column comment

Modifiers chain on any column declaration. For schema changes, $table->string('email')->nullable()->change() alters an existing column.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use id() or bigIncrements('id')?

Same column. $table->id() (Laravel 7+) is the modern shortcut — it creates an auto-incrementing unsigned BIGINT primary key named id. bigIncrements('id') is the explicit form. Either works on every modern Laravel; id() reads cleaner.

Why foreignId() instead of unsignedBigInteger?

$table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained() creates the column and the foreign key constraint in one go. Compared to the old pattern of unsignedBigInteger('user_id') followed by foreign('user_id')->references('id')->on('users'), it’s three lines shorter and reads cleanly. Use it for new code; the old form still works.

What’s the difference between timestamps() and timestampsTz()?

timestamps() creates created_at and updated_at as TIMESTAMP columns (UTC seconds since epoch on MySQL). timestampsTz() uses TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE — supported on PostgreSQL, treated as plain timestamp on MySQL. For multi-region apps where you store local times explicitly, use timestampsTz(). For UTC-everywhere apps, the plain version is fine.

Are tinyInteger, smallInteger, etc. worth the column-size optimization?

On disk yes, in practice rarely. The size difference matters when a column holds billions of rows; under millions, the gain is invisible. Pick the type that matches the value range, not the smallest possible — clarity beats premature optimization. For booleans, boolean() generates the right tiny column for your database.