Connecting Dynamically to Databases in Laravel

When working with Laravel applications, it may be necessary to establish connections to multiple databases dynamically. However, as the required databases are not known beforehand, using the database.php file in the config folder is not feasible. This article explores a method to establish a new database connection, utilizing the DB class, in such scenarios.

Creating a Dynamic Database Connection

To make a new database connection dynamically, you can modify the database configuration at runtime. Laravel reads these settings from config/database.php, but they can be set or changed later.

The database settings loaded from config/database.php are stored in the database config as database.connections. To override or modify these connections, use the following approach:

Config::set("database.connections.mysql", [
    "host" => "...",
    "database" => "...",
    "username" => "...",
    "password" => "..."
]);

Subsequently, any Eloquent models that utilize this mysql connection will employ the new database connection configuration.

Recommended Implementation

To implement dynamic database connections effectively, consider using a Service Provider. This enables you to centralize the connection logic and make it easily accessible throughout your application.