MySQL Database

For production-like testing or when your app requires MySQL-specific features, you can use MySQL in CI.

Two Patterns

Pattern	Use Case
Service Container	Run MySQL in the CI runner
External Connection	Connect to existing MySQL server

Pattern A: MySQL Service in Runner

GitHub Actions can run MySQL as a service container alongside your tests.

Service Configuration

jobs:
  browser-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    services:
      mysql:
        image: mysql:8.0
        env:
          MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: password
          MYSQL_DATABASE: testing
        ports:
          - 3306:3306
        options: >-
          --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping"
          --health-interval=10s
          --health-timeout=5s
          --health-retries=3

Configure Laravel Connection

- name: Configure database
  run: |
    echo "DB_CONNECTION=mysql" >> .env
    echo "DB_HOST=127.0.0.1" >> .env
    echo "DB_PORT=3306" >> .env
    echo "DB_DATABASE=testing" >> .env
    echo "DB_USERNAME=root" >> .env
    echo "DB_PASSWORD=password" >> .env

Complete Workflow

name: Browser Tests

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  browser-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: backend

    services:
      mysql:
        image: mysql:8.0
        env:
          MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: password
          MYSQL_DATABASE: testing
        ports:
          - 3306:3306
        options: >-
          --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping"
          --health-interval=10s
          --health-timeout=5s
          --health-retries=3

    steps:
      - name: Checkout API
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          path: backend

      - name: Checkout Frontend
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          repository: your-org/frontend-repo
          path: frontend

      - name: Setup PHP
        uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
        with:
          php-version: '8.3'
          extensions: dom, curl, libxml, mbstring, zip, pdo_mysql

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 'lts/*'

      - name: Install Composer dependencies
        run: composer install --no-interaction --prefer-dist

      - name: Install npm dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Install Playwright browsers
        run: npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

      - name: Install frontend dependencies
        working-directory: frontend
        run: npm ci

      - name: Prepare Laravel
        run: |
          cp .env.example .env
          php artisan key:generate
          echo "DB_CONNECTION=mysql" >> .env
          echo "DB_HOST=127.0.0.1" >> .env
          echo "DB_PORT=3306" >> .env
          echo "DB_DATABASE=testing" >> .env
          echo "DB_USERNAME=root" >> .env
          echo "DB_PASSWORD=password" >> .env
          php artisan migrate --force

      - name: Run browser tests
        run: ./vendor/bin/pest tests/Browser

Pattern B: External MySQL Connection

Connect to an existing MySQL server (e.g., cloud database, shared testing server).

Using Secrets

Store credentials as repository secrets:

1. Go to repository → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions
2. Add secrets:
   • DB_HOST
   • DB_DATABASE
   • DB_USERNAME
   • DB_PASSWORD

Workflow Configuration

- name: Configure database
  run: |
    echo "DB_CONNECTION=mysql" >> .env
    echo "DB_HOST=${{ secrets.DB_HOST }}" >> .env
    echo "DB_PORT=3306" >> .env
    echo "DB_DATABASE=${{ secrets.DB_DATABASE }}" >> .env
    echo "DB_USERNAME=${{ secrets.DB_USERNAME }}" >> .env
    echo "DB_PASSWORD=${{ secrets.DB_PASSWORD }}" >> .env

Security

Never commit database credentials. Always use GitHub Secrets.

Pest Configuration

Same as SQLite - use DatabaseTruncation:

// tests/Pest.php
<?php

use TestFlowLabs\PestPluginBridge\Bridge;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\DatabaseTruncation;
use Tests\TestCase;

pest()->extends(TestCase::class)
    ->use(DatabaseTruncation::class)
    ->in('Browser');

Bridge::setDefault('http://localhost:3000')
    ->serve('npm run dev', cwd: '../frontend');

phpunit.xml Configuration

For MySQL, update your phpunit.xml:

<phpunit>
    <php>
        <env name="APP_ENV" value="testing"/>
        <env name="DB_CONNECTION" value="mysql"/>
        <!-- Other values come from .env in CI -->
    </php>
</phpunit>

MariaDB Alternative

MariaDB is a drop-in replacement for MySQL:

services:
  mariadb:
    image: mariadb:10.11
    env:
      MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: password
      MARIADB_DATABASE: testing
    ports:
      - 3306:3306
    options: >-
      --health-cmd="healthcheck.sh --connect --innodb_initialized"
      --health-interval=10s
      --health-timeout=5s
      --health-retries=3

Troubleshooting

Connection Refused

1. Check the service health check passed
2. Verify port mapping (3306:3306)
3. Ensure DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 (not localhost)

Access Denied

1. Check MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD matches DB_PASSWORD
2. Verify DB_USERNAME=root

Slow Startup

MySQL takes time to initialize. The health check ensures it's ready before tests run.