Phinx

What Phinx is

Phinx is free, open-source software for managing database migrations in PHP applications without an ORM or application framework. Migrations can be written in PHP or SQL, run forward or backward, and executed during deployment. It can seed data after database creation and supports multiple environments, so changes prepared in development can be run in production. Native adapters are listed for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and Microsoft SQL Server; users can register a custom adapter implementing Phinx’s AdapterInterface. As a command-line tool, it can integrate with deployment, build, or CI tools. Installation uses Composer and requires PHP 8.1 or later, including a 64-bit PHP version. Configuration files hold database credentials and should be kept outside publicly accessible web-server directories. The documentation warns that failed MySQL migrations may leave the database partly migrated because some operations implicitly commit. The repository also lists inability to set a unique constraint on a table as a PostgreSQL limitation. An introductory DRM-free MP4 screencast is listed for $5 USD and runs 16 minutes 51 seconds.