Laravel update database table design - php

Question

I have a php laravel projekt where I need to add a field to one/more models (Eloquent). I don't have much experience in php and never tried laravel before.
The class looks like this now
class Player extends Eloquent
{
use GenderTrait;
use VisibilityTrait;
use PlayerPhotoTrait;
use PlayerActionTrait;
const GENDER_MALE = 2;
const GENDER_FEMALE = 1;
/**
* The database table used by model.
*
* #var string
*/
protected $table = 'players';
/**
* Parameters for `actions` relation.
*
* #see PlayerActionTrait::actions()
* #var array
*/
protected $actionModel = [
'name' => 'PlayerAction',
'foreignKey' => 'player_id',
];
/**
* The list of mass-assignable attributes.
*
* #var array
*/
protected $fillable = [
'name',
'start_value',
'gender',
'is_visible',
'nation',
];
/**
* The list of validation rules.
*
* #var array
*/
public static $rules = [
'name' => 'required',
'nation' => 'required|numeric',
'start_value' => 'required|numeric',
];
/**
* #inheritdoc
*/
protected static function boot()
{
parent::boot();
}
/**
* Players country.
*
* #return Country
*/
public function country()
{
return $this->belongsTo('Country', 'nation');
}
/**
* Player videos.
*
* #return mixed
*/
public function videos()
{
return $this->morphMany('YoutubeLink', 'owner');
}
}
I would like to add a string field called "level" but I have no idea how to go about it. If I create the field in MySQL first and then the models get updated, if I update the models and then Laravel update MySQL for me?
Im looking forward to hearing what I can do :)

Answer 1

You need to add migration:
php artisan make:migration add_fields_to_players_table --table=players
Open in /database/migrations new migration and write
Schema::table('players', function ($table) {
$table->string('new_string_field');
});
Now you need to run migrations
php artisan migrate
More info and available column types here