Disable Foreign Key Constraints when Seeding DB with Artisan Migrate/DB Seed This prevents SQL from throwing errors when you try to do DB::table()->truncate() as TRUNCATE is disallowed when FK constraints are in place.

DatabaseSeeder.php

class DatabaseSeeder extends Seeder {

    /**
     * Run the database seeds.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function run()
    {
        Eloquent::unguard();

        //disable foreign key check for this connection before running seeders
        DB::statement('SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;');

        $this->call('UsersTableSeeder');

        // supposed to only apply to a single connection and reset it's self
        // but I like to explicitly undo what I've done for clarity
        DB::statement('SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=1;');

    }

}