Configuration Reference

All settings live under the FixtureFactories key in your config/app.php (or tests/bootstrap.php). A complete annotated example ships with the plugin at config/app.example.php.

return [
    'FixtureFactories' => [
        'generatorType' => 'faker',
        'defaultLocale' => 'en_US',
        'seed' => 1234,
        'instanceLevelGenerator' => false,
        'testFixtureNamespace' => 'App\\Test\\Factory',
        'testFixtureOutputDir' => 'Factory/',
        'testFixtureGlobalBehaviors' => [],
        'defaultDataMap' => [],
        'columnPatterns' => [],
    ],
];

Keys

generatorType

Generator adapter to use for fake data.

• 'faker' (default) — FakerPHP/Faker. Requires composer require --dev fakerphp/faker.
• 'dummy' — johnykvsky/dummygenerator. Requires composer require --dev johnykvsky/dummygenerator. PHP 8.3+.

See Generators for the full comparison.

defaultLocale

Default locale for the generator. Falls back to I18n::getLocale() when not set.

Faker has full locale support; DummyGenerator's locale support is limited.

seed

Seed for the generator's RNG. A fixed seed produces reproducible test data across runs. Default: 1234.

instanceLevelGenerator

When true, setGenerator() only affects the current factory instance instead of globally changing the generator for all factories. Use BaseFactory::setDefaultGenerator() to set the global default explicitly.

Default: false (BC — setGenerator() affects all factories globally).

Recommended true for new projects to avoid surprising side effects when switching generators per-factory.

testFixtureNamespace

Namespace where factory classes live. Auto-detected from the table registry name when not set.

Default: App\\Test\\Factory.

testFixtureOutputDir

Output directory for baked factory files, relative to tests/.

Default: Factory/.

testFixtureGlobalBehaviors

Behaviors that should be active during fixture creation. The Timestamp behavior is always included.

Provide the behavior name only — not the plugin-prefixed form (use BehaviorName, not SomeVendor/WithPluginName.BehaviorName).

'testFixtureGlobalBehaviors' => ['SomeBehaviorUsedInMultipleTables'],

defaultDataMap

Custom data mapping for the bake command. Maps column names/types to generator method calls. See Bake command.

columnPatterns

Custom column-name regex patterns for the bake command, mapped to generator method calls.

'columnPatterns' => [
    '/^phone/' => '$generator->phoneNumber()',
    '/^zip/'   => '$generator->postcode()',
],