Databases

Harbour supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, and SQLite lifecycle management. MongoDB may be selected for environment generation, but its external Laravel driver owns database lifecycle.

'database' => [
    'enabled' => true,
    'connection' => 'pgsql',
    'sqlite_path' => 'database/harbour.sqlite',
    'migrate' => true,
    'seed' => false,
],

Setup derives a context-safe workspace database name, connects through Laravel/PDO configuration, creates the database, writes a random ownership marker, persists the exact resource evidence, applies the connection to Laravel, and runs normal migrations. Seeding is opt-in.

Repeated setup uses normal migrations; it never runs migrate:fresh implicitly.

PostgreSQL and MySQL/MariaDB

Harbour uses PDO instead of requiring createdb, dropdb, psql, or mysql executables. Identifiers are validated and quoted for the driver.

Before deletion, state, driver, server fingerprint, database name, workspace ID, and the marker stored inside the database must agree. A current .env database name is not ownership evidence.

SQLite

The default file is database/harbour.sqlite. Its path must stay inside the checkout and may not traverse symlinks. Harbour creates and removes only a file recorded as Harbour-owned; a pre-existing SQLite file is never adopted silently.

Shared services

A single PostgreSQL or MySQL daemon can host many Harbour databases. Sail, Herd, a native service manager, or a long-lived Docker container may provide that daemon. Harbour owns the logical workspace database, not the shared server.