Drivers

Drivers are the backend families the ORM knows how to talk to.

The supported SQL family is:

• MySQL
• MariaDB
• PostgreSQL
• SQLite
• MSSQL

Driver tokens and PDO extensions

Use this as the quick reference:

Two details are easy to miss:

• PostgreSQL uses the token pgsql
• MariaDB uses the same PDO extension family as MySQL
• SQL Server uses the token mssql

Standalone configuration examples

MySQL

<?php

OrmRuntime::configure([
  'databases' => [
    'mysql' => [
      'cinema' => [
        'host' => '127.0.0.1',
        'user' => 'root',
        'password' => '',
        'port' => 3306,
      ],
    ],
  ],
]);

PostgreSQL

<?php

OrmRuntime::configure([
  'databases' => [
    'pgsql' => [
      'cinema' => [
        'host' => '127.0.0.1',
        'user' => 'postgres',
        'password' => 'secret',
        'port' => 5432,
      ],
    ],
  ],
]);

SQLite

<?php

OrmRuntime::configure([
  'databases' => [
    'sqlite' => [
      'cinema' => [
        'path' => __DIR__ . '/storage/cinema.sqlite',
      ],
    ],
  ],
]);

MSSQL

<?php

OrmRuntime::configure([
  'databases' => [
    'mssql' => [
      'reporting' => [
        'host' => '127.0.0.1',
        'user' => 'sa',
        'password' => 'secret',
        'port' => 1433,
      ],
    ],
  ],
]);

If you are connecting to a local SQL Server instance with a self-signed certificate, make sure the SQL Server PDO driver is installed correctly for your PHP runtime. The ORM's MSSQL runtime path already trusts the local development certificate.

Assegai configuration examples

The CLI can create these config blocks for you across MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and MSSQL.

<?php

return [
  'databases' => [
    'mysql' => [
      'catalog' => [
        'host' => '127.0.0.1',
        'user' => 'root',
        'password' => '',
        'port' => 3306,
      ],
    ],
    'mariadb' => [
      'catalog' => [
        'host' => '127.0.0.1',
        'user' => 'root',
        'password' => '',
        'port' => 3306,
      ],
    ],
    'pgsql' => [
      'analytics' => [
        'host' => '127.0.0.1',
        'user' => 'postgres',
        'password' => 'secret',
        'port' => 5432,
      ],
    ],
    'sqlite' => [
      'local' => [
        'path' => '.data/local.sqlite',
      ],
    ],
    'mssql' => [
      'reporting' => [
        'host' => '127.0.0.1',
        'user' => 'sa',
        'password' => 'secret',
        'port' => 1433,
      ],
    ],
  ],
];

Then modules should usually refer to the data source in fully qualified form:

'data_source' => 'mysql:catalog'
'data_source' => 'mariadb:catalog'
'data_source' => 'pgsql:analytics'
'data_source' => 'sqlite:local'
'data_source' => 'mssql:reporting'

Which driver should you choose?

Use MySQL when:

• you want a familiar SQL deployment path
• your production environment is already MySQL-oriented
• you want MySQL-specific query features

Use MariaDB when:

• your infrastructure is MariaDB-based
• the MySQL-style path matches your environment well
• you want MariaDB without leaving the MySQL-family fluency

Use PostgreSQL when:

• your team already runs PostgreSQL
• you want PostgreSQL-specific query features
• you are comfortable leaning into its dialect-specific strengths

Use SQLite when:

• you want the simplest local setup
• you are building a prototype, small app, test rig, or CLI-oriented tool
• file-backed or in-memory persistence is a good fit

Use MSSQL when:

• your environment already runs SQL Server
• reporting, integration, or compliance requirements are built around SQL Server
• you want the ORM and query builder to stay inside the same SQL Server stack

Driver choice and the query builder

Driver choice is not just config. It affects what fluent query-builder path makes sense.

For example:

• PostgreSQL can expose distinctOn(...) and returning(...)
• MySQL and MariaDB can expose highPriority() and onDuplicateKeyUpdate(...)
• MSSQL can expose top(...)
• SQLite stays on the smaller SQLite-valid path

This is why the driver concept matters both at configuration time and at query-construction time.

Next steps

If you skipped ahead to configuration, go back to the fuller learning track:

1. Getting Started
2. Data Sources
3. Entities
4. Relations
5. Migrations
6. Working with Entity Manager
7. Query Builder