Database setup

ExchangePro uses Laravel migrations. All tables are created with:

php artisan migrate

Supported databases

Driver	Use case
mysql	Production (recommended)
mariadb	Production
sqlite	Local development / quick demo

MySQL / MariaDB

1. Create database

CREATE DATABASE exchangepro CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'exchangepro'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strong_password_here';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON exchangepro.* TO 'exchangepro'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

2. Configure .env

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=exchangepro
DB_USERNAME=exchangepro
DB_PASSWORD=strong_password_here

3. Migrate

php artisan migrate

Main tables (reference)

Table	Purpose
users	Customers and administrators (role: user | admin)
settings	Key-value JSON blobs (general, SEO, home page, etc.)
currencies	Exchange currencies and rates
currency_prices	External/synced reference rates
currency_form_fields	Dynamic proof form schema
transactions	Exchange orders
blogs, blog_categories	Blog CMS
legal_pages	Policy pages
support_tickets, support_ticket_replies, attachments	Support system
contact_submissions	Contact form
subscribers	Newsletter emails
ip_blocks	IP deny rules
report_feature_submissions	Feedback
app_notifications	In-app notifications
sessions, cache, jobs	Laravel infrastructure

Home page default content is seeded via migration 2026_05_31_000002_seed_home_page_settings.php.

Seed data

Home page settings are seeded via migration 2026_05_31_000002_seed_home_page_settings.php.

For automated tests, use UserFactory (database/factories/UserFactory.php).

First administrator

ExchangePro does not create a default admin user in the database. After migrations and frontend install, open {FRONTEND_URL}/signup and register your account.

While no admin user exists, the first account created is automatically assigned role = admin. Every later signup receives role = user unless changed in the admin panel.

Register before going public

Anyone who completes /signup first on a publicly reachable site becomes administrator. Register yourself before sharing the URL. See First admin account.

Reset database (development)

php artisan migrate:fresh

This deletes all data. Never run on production without backup.

Backup

Production backup example:

mysqldump -u exchangepro -p exchangepro > backup-$(date +%F).sql

Schedule daily backups on your host.

Troubleshooting

Error	Fix
Access denied for user	Check DB credentials in .env
Base table or view not found	Run php artisan migrate
Specified key was too long	Use utf8mb4; MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+