Updated June 2026. Tested on Laravel 13 and PHP 8.4.

SQLite is the simplest database to use with Laravel. There is no server to install and no credentials to manage. The whole database is a single file on disk, which makes it perfect for small apps, prototypes and tests. In fact recent Laravel uses SQLite as the default out of the box.

Create the database file

SQLite stores everything in one file. Create an empty one in the conventional location.

touch database/database.sqlite

Point the .env at it

Because there is no host or login, the .env is short. Give the absolute path to the file, or leave DB_DATABASE out and Laravel uses database/database.sqlite by default.

DB_CONNECTION=sqlite
DB_DATABASE=/absolute/path/to/database/database.sqlite

The connection in config/database.php

The sqlite connection is already defined.

'sqlite' => [
    'driver'   => 'sqlite',
    'database' => env('DB_DATABASE', database_path('database.sqlite')),
    'prefix'   => '',
    'foreign_key_constraints' => env('DB_FOREIGN_KEYS', true),
],

Enable the extension

SQLite needs PHP's pdo_sqlite extension, which is usually on by default. Confirm it.

php -m | grep pdo_sqlite

The foreign key note to watch

One thing trips people up. SQLite does not enforce foreign keys unless you tell it to, and Laravel controls this with the foreign_key_constraints option above. It defaults to on, which is what you want, so cascading deletes and foreign keys behave like they do on MySQL. If you ever see foreign keys being ignored on SQLite, that setting is the first place to look.

Test it

php artisan migrate

Your tables are created right inside the file. Questions welcome in the comments.