Field Types & Primary Keys

Fields are declared as name:type pairs, comma-separated:

php artisan make:fullapi Product --fields="name:string,price:decimal,stock:integer,meta:json"

Supported types

Type	Database column	PHP type	Validation rule
string	VARCHAR(255)	string	string|max:255
text	TEXT	string	string
integer / int	INTEGER	int	integer
bigint	BIGINTEGER	int	integer
boolean / bool	BOOLEAN	bool	boolean
float / decimal	DECIMAL(8,2)	float	numeric
json	JSON	array	json
date / datetime / timestamp	TIMESTAMP	DateTimeInterface	date
uuid	UUID	string	uuid
enum(a,b,...)	ENUM('a','b')	backed enum + cast	Rule::enum()

Every type flows through the whole stack: migration column, validation rules, model cast, factory value, DTO property type and PHPDoc @property.

Native enum fields

php artisan make:fullapi Article --fields="title:string,status:enum(draft,published,archived)"

One field definition produces the entire chain:

• app/Enums/Status.php: a backed enum Status: string with a case per value
• Model: 'status' => \App\Enums\Status::class in $casts and @property \App\Enums\Status $status in the PHPDoc
• Request: Rule::enum(Status::class) validation
• Factory: fake()->randomElement(Status::cases())
• Migration: $table->enum('status', ['draft', 'published', 'archived'])

In a schema file:

status: enum(draft,published) default=draft

Custom primary keys

Append :primary (CLI) or the primary modifier (schema file) to make a field the primary key instead of the default auto-increment id:

php artisan make:fullapi Country --fields="code:string:primary,name:string"

The whole stack follows automatically:

• Migration: $table->string('code')->primary(), no $table->id()
• Model: $primaryKey, $incrementing = false, $keyType declared
• Incoming relations: the FK is named country_code, typed like the key, with ->references('code') in the migration and exists:countries,code in validation
• Generated tests use getKey() so they pass with either key style

Nullable, unique and defaults

The --fields string syntax keeps to name:type. For per-field constraints, use either the interactive wizard or a schema file, which accepts a shorthand or a mapping:

fields:
  title: string
  slug: string unique
  content: text nullable
  views: { type: integer, default: 0 }