Configuration / Database Configuration

Note: You are currently reading the documentation for Bolt 4.0. Looking for the documentation for Bolt 5.2 instead?

Bolt supports three different database engines: SQLite, MySQL and MariaDB. Each has its benefits and drawbacks.

• SQLite - is a (file-based) database. Bolt stores the entire database as a file in the var/database directory. Since it's a regular file, it's easy to make backups of your database if you use SQLite. The main benefit of SQLite is that it requires no configuration, and as such, it works 'out of the box' on practically any web server. This is why it's Bolt's default choice.
• MySQL (and the similar MariaDB) - is perhaps the most well-known database engine, which is supported on the majority of web servers. MySQL is very well-known, and there are good third-party tools for maintenance, backup and migration.

Not sure which database to use? We suggest using MySQL if available, and SQLite otherwise.

If you wish to edit the database configuration, you have to change the settings in the .env file or as environment variables. Apart from SQLite, you can use MySQL(MariaDB) as database systems. Set the database, username and password as Doctrine DSN / Database URLs:

# SQLite (note: _three_ slashes)
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///%kernel.project_dir%/var/data/bolt.sqlite

# MYSQL / MariaDB
#DATABASE_URL=mysql://db_user:"db_password"@localhost:3306/db_name

Other settings can be changed in the config.yaml file later on. Either directly from the Bolt backend, or by making edits in the file itself using your preferred editor.

After configuring the Database, run bin/console bolt:setup. This will create and initialise the Database for you, then lets you create the first (admin) user, and add some dummy content ("fixtures") to the database.

bin/console bolt:setup

Alternatively, run the following commands in sequence to do it step by step:

bin/console doctrine:database:create
bin/console doctrine:schema:create
bin/console bolt:add-user --admin
bin/console doctrine:fixtures:load

Note: Make sure to create at least one admin user, using either bolt:setup or by adding the --admin flag to bolt:add-user. Otherwise, you'll only create a "regular" user that doesn't have administrative permissions, and they won't be able to log into the backend.