Artisan Commands

The starter includes several custom Artisan commands for managing your application’s database, configuration, and Northwestern integrations.

Database Commands

db:rebuild

Completely rebuild the database by dropping all tables, running migrations, and executing all auto-discovered seeders.

php artisan db:rebuild

What it does:

1. Clears application cache, queue, and schedule cache
2. Runs migrate:fresh (drops all tables and re-runs migrations)
3. Executes all seeders via db:seed
4. Seeds demo data via DemoSeeder
5. Regenerates IDE model helper annotations

Destructive Operation

This command will completely wipe your database. Only use in local and testing environments. Never run this in production.

When to use:

• Initial project setup
• After pulling schema changes from git
• When switching between feature branches with different schemas
• Resetting test data during development

Related: db:wipe, migrate:fresh, db:seed

---

db:seed:list

Display all auto-discovered seeders with their dependencies and execution order.

php artisan db:seed:list

Options

#--show-dependenciesflag

Show full dependency tree

#--mermaidflag

Output as Mermaid diagram

#--jsonflag

Output as JSON

Output example:

 ┌───┬──────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┐
 │ # │ Seeder           │ Dependencies                     │
 ├───┼──────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
 │ 1 │ PermissionSeeder │ none                             │
 │ 2 │ RoleTypeSeeder   │ none                             │
 │ 3 │ RoleSeeder       │ RoleTypeSeeder, PermissionSeeder │
 └───┴──────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┘

When to use:

• Verify seeder discovery and dependencies
• Troubleshoot seeding order issues
• Document available seeders for your team

See also: Idempotent Seeding documentation

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db:snapshot:create {filename?}

Create a snapshot of the current database state.

php artisan db:snapshot:create my-snapshot-name

Options

#filenameargument

Descriptive name for the snapshot. Defaults to database-dump if omitted.

#--skip-schema-validationflag

Skip schema validation checks

What it does:

1. Validates database schema matches current migrations (unless skipped)
2. Dumps database to database/snapshots/{name}.sql
3. Stores metadata about the snapshot (checksum, timestamp, migration/seeder counts)

Tip

Use descriptive snapshot names like clean-test-data or before-feature-x to make them easier to identify later.

When to use:

• Before making risky database changes
• Saving a known-good state for testing
• Creating test data fixtures
• Preserving demo data

See also: Database Snapshots documentation

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db:snapshot:restore {filename?}

Restore a previously created database snapshot.

php artisan db:snapshot:restore my-snapshot-name

Options

#filenameargument

Name of the snapshot to restore. Defaults to database-dump if omitted.

#--skip-schema-validationflag

Skip schema validation checks

#--backupflag

Create a backup of the current database before restoring

#--forceflag

Skip confirmation prompt

What it does:

1. Validates snapshot exists
2. Checks schema compatibility (unless skipped)
3. Creates a backup if requested
4. Drops all current database tables
5. Restores data from snapshot SQL file

Destructive Operation

Restoring a snapshot will completely replace your current database. All current data will be lost.

When to use:

• Resetting to a known state during testing
• Recovering from bad data changes during development
• Switching between test scenarios

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db:snapshot:list

List all available database snapshots.

php artisan db:snapshot:list

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db:snapshot:info {filename?}

Display detailed information about a specific snapshot.

php artisan db:snapshot:info my-snapshot-name

Options

#filenameargument

Name of the snapshot to inspect. If omitted, an interactive selector is shown.

What it does:

1. Displays file information (path, size, modification date)
2. Shows schema metadata (checksum, migration/seeder counts)
3. Compares snapshot schema with current codebase

When to use:

• Verifying a snapshot’s contents before restoring
• Checking if a snapshot is compatible with current code
• Reviewing snapshot metadata

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db:snapshot:delete {filename?}

Delete a database snapshot and its associated metadata.

php artisan db:snapshot:delete my-snapshot-name

Options

#filenameargument

Name of the snapshot to delete. If omitted, an interactive selector is shown.

#--allflag

Delete all snapshots

What it does:

1. Removes the SQL snapshot file from database/snapshots/
2. Cleans up associated metadata from the checksum map

When to use:

• Removing old or unused snapshots
• Freeing up disk space
• Cleaning up after testing

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db:wake

Wake up a potentially-inactive serverless RDS database by establishing a connection.

php artisan db:wake

Options

#--max-attemptsoption5

Maximum number of connection attempts (1-20)

#--delayoption5

Seconds to wait between attempts (1-30)

What it does:

Attempts to connect to the database and execute a simple query, causing serverless databases (like AWS Aurora Serverless) to wake from sleep mode.

When to use:

• Before running migrations
• As part of deployment scripts
• When you know the database has been idle

Note

This is primarily useful for AWS Aurora Serverless or similar serverless database configurations that automatically pause after periods of inactivity.

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Configuration Commands

config:validate

Validate application configuration and environment variables.

php artisan config:validate

What it does:

Runs all auto-discovered config validators and reports their status. Built-in validators check:

• Application key
• SSO credentials (Entra ID or Online Passport)
• Directory Search API key
• Database connectivity
• Queue connection
• S3 storage access
• EventHub credentials (when not mocked)

Validators that aren’t relevant to the current configuration (e.g., EventHub when mocked) are automatically skipped and shown separately in the output.

When to use:

• After initial installation
• After environment variable changes
• Before deployment
• Troubleshooting integration issues

Adding Custom Validators

Validators are discovered automatically using the #[StarterValidator] attribute, following the same pattern as #[AutoSeed] for seeders.

1. Create a validator class implementing ConfigValidator in a Services/ConfigValidation directory within your domain:

<?php

namespace App\Domains\Billing\Services\ConfigValidation;

use App\Domains\Core\Attributes\StarterValidator;
use App\Domains\Core\Contracts\ConfigValidator;

#[StarterValidator(description: 'Stripe')]
class StripeValidator implements ConfigValidator
{
    public function shouldRun(): bool
    {
        // Return false to skip when the integration isn't configured
        return filled(config('services.stripe.secret'));
    }

    public function validate(): bool
    {
        return filled(config('services.stripe.secret'))
            && filled(config('services.stripe.key'));
    }

    public function successMessage(): string
    {
        return 'Stripe API keys are configured';
    }

    public function errorMessage(): string
    {
        return 'Stripe configuration is incomplete';
    }

    public function hints(): array
    {
        return [
            'Set <comment>STRIPE_KEY</comment> and <comment>STRIPE_SECRET</comment> in your .env file',
        ];
    }
}

2. That’s it. The validator is automatically discovered from any app/Domains/*/Services/ConfigValidation directory. No registration or configuration needed.

Tip

The description parameter on #[StarterValidator] controls the label shown in the command output. The shouldRun() method determines whether the validator is relevant. Return false for optional integrations that aren’t configured to avoid false negatives.

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Maintenance Commands

access-tokens:notify-expiration

Send expiration reminder emails for access tokens approaching their expiration date.

php artisan access-tokens:notify-expiration

What it does:

1. Queries for active access tokens with upcoming expiration dates
2. Checks which tokens are due for notifications (30, 14, 7, 3, 1 days before)
3. Sends reminder emails to token owners

See also: API Documentation

---

Health Check Commands

health:check

Run health checks for all external integrations and services.

php artisan health:check

What it does:

Validates connectivity and configuration for:

• Database - Connection and query execution (production only)
• Queue - Queue worker connectivity
• Cache - Cache store read/write
• Schedule - Scheduler heartbeat
• Debug Mode - Ensures debug mode is off (non-local)
• Optimized App - Ensures app is optimized (non-local)
• Security Advisories - Checks for known package vulnerabilities
• Redis - Redis connectivity (when Redis driver is in use)
• Directory Search - API connectivity and test query

When to use:

• After deployment
• Troubleshooting integration issues
• Monitoring service connectivity
• As part of CI/CD pipelines

Integration:

The /api/health endpoint also runs these checks for automated monitoring:

curl -H "X-Secret-Token: your-secret-token" https://your-app.northwestern.edu/api/health

---

Starter Commands

starter:check

Check for newer releases of the Northwestern Laravel Starter.

php artisan starter:check

What it does:

1. Reads the current version from .starter-version.yaml
2. Queries the GitHub Releases API for newer versions
3. Displays release notes and a compare URL for any available updates

Options

#--version-fileoption

Path to .starter-version.yaml (defaults to project root)

This command runs automatically via composer install and composer update in local environments. Results are cached for 4 hours to avoid unnecessary API calls.

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Changelog Commands

make:changelog

Scaffold a new changelog Markdown file in resources/changelogs/.

php artisan make:changelog

In interactive mode, the command prompts for a slug, date, and title with sensible defaults. Arguments and options can also be passed directly:

php artisan make:changelog 2026-03-01 --date=2026-03-01 --title="Search Improvements"

Options

#slugargument

URL-safe identifier. Defaults to today’s date.

#--dateoption

Authored date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Defaults to today.

#--titleoption

Human-readable title. Defaults to “Month Year Release” when the slug is a date.

If a file with the same slug already exists, a numeric suffix is appended automatically.

See also: Changelog documentation

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IDE Helper Commands

The starter uses laravel-ide-helper to generate IDE autocomplete files. These commands are automatically run after db:rebuild:

ide-helper:generate

Generate IDE helper file for Laravel facades.

php artisan ide-helper:generate

ide-helper:models

Generate PHPDoc annotations for Eloquent models.

php artisan ide-helper:models --write --reset

ide-helper:meta

Generate PhpStorm meta file for container bindings.

php artisan ide-helper:meta

Tip

These commands are automatically executed as part of db:rebuild. You rarely need to run them manually unless you’re specifically updating IDE helpers.