Laravel DB ERD Generator

A Laravel package for generating Entity-Relationship Diagrams (ERD) of your database schema. This tool is designed to support multiple database systems like MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL Server, and Oracle.

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Features

• Automatically scans your database schema for tables and their relationships.
• Generates ERD diagrams in PDF format using Graphviz.
• Extensible design with support for multiple database drivers.

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Installation

Requirements

• PHP 8.1 or higher
• Laravel 10.x or higher
• Graphviz installed on your system

Step 1: Install the package

composer require rtcoder/laravel-db-erd

Step 2: Publish the configuration (optional)

If you need to customize the behavior, publish the configuration file:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=db-erd-config

If you need to customize the views, you can publish them using:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=db-erd-views

This will copy the default views to your project's resources/views/vendor/laravel-erd directory, where you can modify them as needed.

Step 3: Install Graphviz

Ensure Graphviz is installed on your system.

On macOS:

brew install graphviz

On Ubuntu:

sudo apt install graphviz

On Windows:

Download and install from Graphviz's official site.

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Usage

Generate an ERD Run the following Artisan command to generate the ERD:

php artisan erd:generate --output=storage/erd/erd_diagram.pdf --driver=mysql

The --output option specifies the file path for the generated diagram.

Check Graphviz availability

php artisan erd:doctor

The command verifies that the Graphviz dot binary is available in PATH and prints its detected path and version.

Generate from your application code

use Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Contracts\ERDGeneratorInterface;

class ExportSchemaController
{
    public function __invoke(ERDGeneratorInterface $generator): void
    {
        $generator->generate(storage_path('erd/schema.svg'), 'pgsql');
    }
}

You can also resolve the service from the container:

app(ERDGeneratorInterface::class)->generate(storage_path('erd/schema.html'), 'mysql');
app('erd-generator')->generate(storage_path('erd/schema.pdf'), 'pgsql');

Service usage

The package registers the generator in Laravel's service container, so you can generate diagrams from controllers, jobs, commands, scheduled tasks, tests, or any other application service.

Available bindings:

Binding	Description
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Contracts\ERDGeneratorInterface	Recommended dependency injection target.
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Services\ERDGenerator	Concrete generator implementation.
erd-generator	String alias for quick container resolution.

Controller example:

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Contracts\ERDGeneratorInterface;

class ExportSchemaController
{
    public function __invoke(ERDGeneratorInterface $generator): string
    {
        $path = storage_path('erd/schema.svg');

        $generator->generate($path, 'pgsql');

        return $path;
    }
}

Queued job example:

namespace App\Jobs;

use Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Contracts\ERDGeneratorInterface;

class GenerateSchemaDiagram
{
    public function handle(ERDGeneratorInterface $generator): void
    {
        $generator->generate(storage_path('erd/schema.html'), config('erd.default_driver'));
    }
}

Supported Databases

• MySQL
• PostgreSQL
• SQLite
• SQL Server
• Oracle

Available database drivers are represented by the Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Enums\DatabaseConnection enum. PostgreSQL also accepts postgres, postgresql, and psql aliases.

Supported output formats

• PDF
• SVG
• PNG
• HTML

Available output formats are represented by the Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Enums\OutputFormat enum.

Configuration

You can customize the package by modifying the configuration file (config/erd.php):

return [
    'default_driver' => env('DB_ERD_DRIVER', env('DB_CONNECTION', 'pgsql')),
    'output_directory' => storage_path('erd'),
    'output_name' => 'erd_diagram',
    'output_format' => 'pdf',
    'exclude_tables' => ['migrations', 'jobs', 'failed_jobs'],
];

Exceptions

The package exposes concrete exceptions so you can handle generator failures without catching a generic Exception.

Exception	When it is thrown
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\UnsupportedOutputFormatException	The output file extension is not one of pdf, png, svg, or html.
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\InvalidConnectionNameException	The selected database driver is not supported.
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\DirectoryCreationException	The output directory cannot be created.
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\TemporaryFileCreationException	The temporary DOT file for Graphviz cannot be created.
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\FileWriteException	The generated DOT or HTML file cannot be written.
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\GraphvizRenderException	Graphviz exits with a non-zero status while rendering PDF, PNG, or SVG output.
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\ViewNotFoundException	The HTML diagram Blade view cannot be found in the application or package paths.
Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\ERDException	Base exception for runtime generation failures.

Example:

use Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\ERDException;
use Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\InvalidConnectionNameException;
use Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Exceptions\UnsupportedOutputFormatException;
use Rtcoder\LaravelERD\Contracts\ERDGeneratorInterface;

try {
    app(ERDGeneratorInterface::class)->generate(storage_path('erd/schema.svg'), 'pgsql');
} catch (UnsupportedOutputFormatException|InvalidConnectionNameException $exception) {
    report($exception);
} catch (ERDException $exception) {
    report($exception);
}

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Troubleshooting

Graphviz not found error

Ensure Graphviz is correctly installed and the dot binary is available in your system's PATH.

You can check this from Laravel with:

php artisan erd:doctor

macOS

brew install graphviz

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt install graphviz

Windows

Install Graphviz from the official download page, or use one of the package manager commands below:

winget install graphviz

choco install graphviz

If the command still cannot find dot, restart your terminal and verify that the Graphviz bin directory is included in PATH.

Empty ERD Diagram

Verify that your database schema has relationships (foreign keys).

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License

This package is open-source software licensed under the MIT license.