laravel/framework · error · RuntimeException

The database driver in use does not support vector indexes.

Error message

The database driver in use does not support vector indexes.

What it means

Base Grammar::compileVectorIndex() throws RuntimeException because the driver does not support vector indexes (pgvector-style). Only a Postgres-aware grammar with vector support overrides it. Thrown when a Blueprint vector index command is compiled on an unsupported driver.

Source

Thrown at src/Illuminate/Database/Schema/Grammars/Grammar.php:168

     * @throws \RuntimeException
     */
    public function compileIndexes($schema, $table)
    {
        throw new RuntimeException('This database driver does not support retrieving indexes.');
    }

    /**
     * Compile a vector index key command.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint  $blueprint
     * @param  \Illuminate\Support\Fluent  $command
     * @return void
     *
     * @throws \RuntimeException
     */
    public function compileVectorIndex(Blueprint $blueprint, Fluent $command)
    {
        throw new RuntimeException('The database driver in use does not support vector indexes.');
    }

    /**
     * Compile the query to determine the foreign keys.
     *
     * @param  string|null  $schema
     * @param  string  $table
     * @return string
     *
     * @throws \RuntimeException
     */
    public function compileForeignKeys($schema, $table)
    {
        throw new RuntimeException('This database driver does not support retrieving foreign keys.');
    }

    /**
     * Compile a rename column command.

View on GitHub (pinned to bd6b5437e6)

Solutions

Switch the connection to Postgres with the pgvector extension installed.
Remove the vector index command from migrations running on unsupported drivers.
Conditionally apply vector index logic only when DB::connection() is PostgresConnection.

Example fix

// before
Schema::create('docs', function (Blueprint $t) {
    $t->vectorIndex('embedding');
});

// after
if (DB::connection() instanceof \Illuminate\Database\PostgresConnection) {
    Schema::create('docs', function (Blueprint $t) {
        $t->vectorIndex('embedding');
    });
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (! DB::connection() instanceof \Illuminate\Database\PostgresConnection) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('Vector indexes require Postgres + pgvector.');
}
Schema::create('docs', fn (Blueprint $t) => $t->vectorIndex('embedding'));

Type guard

function driverSupportsVectorIndex(): bool
{
    return DB::connection() instanceof \Illuminate\Database\PostgresConnection;
}

Try / catch

try {
    Schema::create('docs', fn (Blueprint $t) => $t->vectorIndex('embedding'));
} catch (\RuntimeException $e) {
    if (str_contains($e->getMessage(), 'vector indexes')) {
        // skip vector index on non-Postgres
    } else {
        throw $e;
    }
}

Prevention

Reserve vectorIndex()/vector() for Postgres with pgvector.
Keep CI driver aligned with production for AI/embedding migrations.
Guard vector migrations with instanceof PostgresConnection.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling $table->vectorIndex() / $table->vector() with an index, or any blueprint command that produces a vector-index Fluent whose compiler dispatches to Grammar::compileVectorIndex, on MySQL/SQLite/SQL Server or an incomplete custom grammar.

Common situations: Running a migration written for pgvector against MySQL/SQLite; CI defaulting to SQLite while migrations use vector columns/indexes.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of laravel/framework@bd6b5437e6 (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /data/errors/804efb5a65e6cd63.json. Report an issue: GitHub.