Symfony Doctrine Schema Loader

Define database schemas programmatically in PHP classes and generate Doctrine Migrations from them.

This library lets you define tables, columns, indexes, and foreign keys in *Schema.php classes instead of using ORM entities or manual migration files. The schema loader discovers these classes across configured paths, merges their definitions, and provides a SchemaProvider for Doctrine Migrations—so running migrations:diff produces a migration file that brings your database in sync with your programmatic schema.

When to use this – Use this library when you work without Doctrine ORM (e.g. plain DBAL, raw SQL, or a custom data layer) and want a modular setup where each module or capability contributes its own schema definitions. The loader discovers *Schema.php files via paths or glob patterns, so modules can ship their schemas alongside their code and migrations stay in sync automatically.

Requirements

• PHP 8.4+
• Symfony 7.4 or 8.0 (doctrine-bridge)
• Doctrine DBAL 4.4+
• Doctrine Migrations 3.9+

Usage

composer require phauthentic/symfony-doctrine-schema-loader

Schema Definition Interface

Implement SchemaDefinitionInterface in classes that define database objects. Each class receives a Schema instance and adds tables, sequences, and other objects via the Doctrine DBAL Schema API.

use Doctrine\DBAL\Schema\Schema;
use Doctrine\DBAL\Types\Types;
use Phauthentic\SymfonyDoctrineSchemaLoader\Schema\SchemaDefinitionInterface;

final class UserSchema implements SchemaDefinitionInterface
{
    public function define(Schema $schema): void
    {
        $table = $schema->createTable('user');
        $table->addColumn('id', Types::INTEGER)
            ->setAutoincrement(true)
            ->setNotnull(true);
        $table->addColumn('email', Types::STRING, ['length' => 255])
            ->setNotnull(true);
        $table->setPrimaryKey(['id']);
    }
}

You can extend AbstractSchemaDefinition for a no-op base implementation.

Schema Loader

SchemaLoader implements SchemaLoaderInterface and scans directories recursively for PHP files matching *Schema.php (or a custom suffix), loads classes implementing SchemaDefinitionInterface, and merges their definitions into a single Schema. Depend on SchemaLoaderInterface when you need to inject a schema loader.

use Phauthentic\SymfonyDoctrineSchemaLoader\Loader\SchemaLoader;

$loader = new SchemaLoader([
    'src/Capability/Alpha/Infrastructure/Persistence/Doctrine/Schema',
    'src/Capability/Beta/Infrastructure/Persistence/Doctrine/Schema',
]);

$schema = $loader->load();

// With glob pattern (discovers all matching directories)
$loader = new SchemaLoader([
    'src/Capability/*/Infrastructure/Persistence/Doctrine/Schema',
]);
$schema = $loader->load();

Doctrine Migrations Integration

LoaderSchemaProvider implements Doctrine\Migrations\Provider\SchemaProvider and delegates to SchemaLoader. Wire it into Doctrine Migrations so the diff command uses your programmatic schemas instead of ORM metadata.

use Doctrine\Migrations\DependencyFactory;
use Doctrine\Migrations\Provider\SchemaProvider;
use Phauthentic\SymfonyDoctrineSchemaLoader\Loader\SchemaLoader;
use Phauthentic\SymfonyDoctrineSchemaLoader\Provider\LoaderSchemaProvider;

$loader = new SchemaLoader($paths);
$provider = new LoaderSchemaProvider($loader);

$dependencyFactory->setService(SchemaProvider::class, $provider);

Symfony Integration

When using doctrine/doctrine-migrations-bundle, register the provider as a service and inject it into the migrations dependency factory:

# config/services.yaml
services:
    Phauthentic\SymfonyDoctrineSchemaLoader\Loader\SchemaLoader:
        arguments:
            $paths:
                - '%kernel.project_dir%/src/Capability/Alpha/Infrastructure/Persistence/Doctrine/Schema'
                - '%kernel.project_dir%/src/Capability/Beta/Infrastructure/Persistence/Doctrine/Schema'

    Phauthentic\SymfonyDoctrineSchemaLoader\Provider\LoaderSchemaProvider:
        arguments:
            $loader: '@Phauthentic\SymfonyDoctrineSchemaLoader\Loader\SchemaLoader'

Then configure the bundle to use your provider (e.g. via a compiler pass or by setting SchemaProvider::class in the dependency factory before it is frozen).

Why Programmatic Schemas?

• No ORM required – Define schemas without Doctrine ORM entities.
• Modular – Organize schema definitions by capability or bounded context.
• Testable – Schema classes are plain PHP; easy to unit test.
• Explicit – Tables and columns are defined in one place, close to the code that uses them.

License

This library is under the MIT license.