composer install

Next you can clone the .env.example file into the .env file. This means that you have to create the same file in the root directory under a different name e.g. .env and copy paste the same credentials like .env.example file.

Laravel has a built-in CLI tool called artisan. Your application must generate a unique base 64 key that Laravel uses behind the scenes to bootstrap this project.

Command:

php artisan key:generate

It will automatically find your .env file and place the base 64 value in the file.

Output inside the file:

APP_KEY=base64:T0huMR5Wx9EoDmjTxniKTofHD/7cOiDeVVD9eTKuCa0=

As you can see it is necessary to create the .env file in your local to bootstrap the project. But Laravel contains 2 methods to connect to the database server.

• Use of the .env variables (I prefer this one)
• Use of the file located at the config/database.php

When you create this file with copy paste credentials you can see default; the database variables are written something like this:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql  
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1  
DB_PORT=3306  
DB_DATABASE=test_app  
DB_USERNAME=root  
DB_PASSWORD=

You can edit values according to your own database personal preference. I am using Postgres in this case.

Note: When Laravel bootstraps the project it gives priority to the .env file as compared to config/** files. You can see config/database.php file contains an associated array with default database settings like this.

return [
    
    'default' => env('DB_CONNECTION', 'mysql'),
    'connections' => [
        'mysql' => [
            'driver' => 'mysql',
            'url' => env('DATABASE_URL'),
            'host' => env('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1'),
            'port' => env('DB_PORT', '3306'),
            'database' => env('DB_DATABASE', 'forge'),
            'username' => env('DB_USERNAME', 'forge'),
            'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD', ''),
            'unix_socket' => env('DB_SOCKET', ''),
            'charset' => 'utf8mb4',
            'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
            'prefix' => '',
            'prefix_indexes' => true,
            'strict' => true,
            'engine' => null,
            'options' => extension_loaded('pdo_mysql') ? array_filter([
                PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA => env('MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA'),
            ]) : [],
        ],
    ]
    ]

You can only use these settings if variables from the .env file will be deleted. Otherwise, Laravel gives priority to .env variables.

Delete the variables from the .env:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=test_app
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Lastly, Update the config/database.php with your database server settings:

'default' => env('DB_CONNECTION', 'pgsql')
'database' => env('DB_DATABASE', 'invoicer_test'),
'username' => env('DB_USERNAME', 'postgres'),
'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD', 'a')

I am using Postgres and inside .env file my database server credentials are:

DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1  
DB_PORT=5432
DB_DATABASE=invoicer_test
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=a

However, your main server and database server get started.

At the last make sure after updating your database settings. Please use artisan CLI to migrate the database tables.

php artisan migrate

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