- How do I install baril/sqlout in a Laravel application?
- Install it with Composer using composer require baril/sqlout, then set your Scout driver to sqlout in config/scout.php. Add MySQL FULLTEXT indexes to the columns you want searchable through migrations, and import existing records with the usual Scout import command. Because the package has thin ecosystem validation, pin the version and test the install in a branch before rolling it out.
- Which Laravel, PHP, Scout, and MySQL versions does baril/sqlout support?
- The package’s Composer constraints are the authoritative source, so check them against your application’s Laravel, PHP, and Scout versions before installing. The last release was in June 2025, which is positive, but maintainer bandwidth and long-term support are uncertain. Test on the exact production MySQL major and minor version rather than assuming compatibility from the package metadata alone.
- Does baril/sqlout work with MySQL 8 InnoDB full-text search and MariaDB?
- baril/sqlout is designed around MySQL FULLTEXT indexes, so MySQL 8 with InnoDB is the primary target to validate. MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and SQLite are not safe assumptions; verify compatibility on your exact database and storage engine. Treat MySQL-specific behavior, including minimum token length, stopwords, and language settings, as part of your acceptance testing.
- How does baril/sqlout create and manage FULLTEXT indexes?
- The driver relies on native MySQL FULLTEXT indexes that you add through Laravel migrations, rather than a separate search index service. Confirm whether the package expects package-managed structures or plain table indexes, because that changes backfill, sync, and rollback expectations. On large tables, plan for online DDL or a maintenance window since index creation can lock or consume significant I/O.
- What search modes and ranking options does baril/sqlout expose?
- Expect MySQL full-text behavior, including natural-language and boolean-style matching, with ranking driven by MySQL relevance scoring rather than custom search-engine ranking. It does not provide typo tolerance, faceting, fuzzy matching, synonyms, or advanced custom ranking. Sanitize user input carefully for boolean operators and special characters, and document the relevance limitations your users will accept.
- Can I use baril/sqlout with soft deletes, multi-tenancy, model scopes, and pagination?
- It preserves Scout’s model-level search API, so pagination and common model scopes are the natural integration points to test first. Soft-deleted records need to be excluded explicitly, and multi-tenancy may require per-tenant indexes or a tenant-aware FULLTEXT strategy. Validate eager loading and result hydration against your actual models rather than assuming Scout parity.
- How does baril/sqlout perform compared with Algolia, Meilisearch, or Elasticsearch?
- baril/sqlout lowers infrastructure footprint by keeping search inside MySQL, but search quality and throughput will be materially lower than dedicated engines. It is a poor fit for typo tolerance, faceting, fuzzy matching, synonyms, custom ranking, or very high query volume. Benchmark latency, relevance, and database load against production-like data before replacing an external engine.
- Is baril/sqlout production-ready given its low star count and dependent count?
- With 45 stars and 0 dependents, ecosystem validation is thin, so treat it as a tactical component rather than a strategic search platform. Check for CI, test coverage, documentation, and a credible maintainer or fork plan before committing. Pin the package version and keep a rollback path to your prior Scout driver or external engine.
- How should I test and roll back a baril/sqlout migration?
- Start with a time-boxed proof of concept on non-production data that resembles production volume and content. Compare result quality, query latency, and write impact against your current approach, then design index migrations with a maintenance or online-DDL plan. Keep the previous driver configuration and a migration rollback path ready before changing production search behavior.
- What alternatives to baril/sqlout exist for Laravel Scout search?
- Alternatives include Scout’s database driver for basic LIKE queries, Meilisearch, Algolia, Typesense, and Elasticsearch for richer search features. baril/sqlout is most attractive when you are standardized on MySQL and need basic keyword search without operating another data store. If relevance, faceting, or high throughput are revenue-critical, choose a dedicated search engine instead.