diff --git a/.github/RUNNING_TESTS.md b/.github/RUNNING_TESTS.md
index b053e2ca1..1534b0660 100644
--- a/.github/RUNNING_TESTS.md
+++ b/.github/RUNNING_TESTS.md
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ InvoicePlane v2 uses two PHPUnit configuration files:
 
 ### phpunit.xml
 - Runs all Unit and Feature test suites
-- Uses SQLite in-memory database
+- Uses MariaDB/MySQL via `DB_*` values in `phpunit.xml` / `phpunit.smoke.xml` (overridable by process environment variables)
 - Includes all test directories
 
 ### phpunit.smoke.xml
diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-php-composer/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup-php-composer/action.yml
index a4270eb5c..56aefd315 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-php-composer/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-php-composer/action.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ inputs:
   php-extensions:
     description: 'PHP extensions to install (comma-separated)'
     required: false
-    default: 'mbstring, xml, ctype, json, fileinfo, pdo, sqlite, mysql, bcmath'
+    default: 'mbstring, xml, ctype, json, fileinfo, pdo, pdo_mysql, bcmath'
   composer-flags:
     description: 'Flags appended to the composer install command (e.g., --no-dev --optimize-autoloader). Used only when composer-args is empty.'
     required: false
diff --git a/.github/workflows/composer-update.yml b/.github/workflows/composer-update.yml
index ee73c8707..d74e0840c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/composer-update.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/composer-update.yml
@@ -36,6 +36,29 @@ jobs:
   update-composer-dependencies:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
+    services:
+      mysql:
+        image: mariadb:11
+        env:
+          MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
+          MARIADB_ROOT_HOST: '%'
+          MARIADB_DATABASE: testing
+        ports:
+          - 3306:3306
+        options: >-
+          --health-cmd="healthcheck.sh --connect --innodb_initialized"
+          --health-interval=10s
+          --health-timeout=5s
+          --health-retries=5
+
+    env:
+      DB_CONNECTION: mysql
+      DB_HOST: 127.0.0.1
+      DB_PORT: 3306
+      DB_DATABASE: testing
+      DB_USERNAME: root
+      DB_PASSWORD: root
+
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -46,7 +69,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
         with:
           php-version: '8.4'
-          extensions: mbstring, xml, ctype, json, fileinfo, pdo, sqlite, mysql, bcmath
+          extensions: mbstring, xml, ctype, json, fileinfo, pdo, pdo_mysql, bcmath
           coverage: none
 
       - name: Repair Composer install
diff --git a/.github/workflows/phpunit.yml b/.github/workflows/phpunit.yml
index 96d83721c..40868fef4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/phpunit.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/phpunit.yml
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ jobs:
       mariadb:
         image: mariadb:10.11
         env:
-          MYSQL_DATABASE: invoiceplane_test
           MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
+          MYSQL_DATABASE: invoiceplane_test
         ports:
           - 3306:3306
         options: >-
diff --git a/.github/workflows/quickstart.yml b/.github/workflows/quickstart.yml
index 55678b749..dbac2d03d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/quickstart.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/quickstart.yml
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ jobs:
       mariadb:
         image: mariadb:10.11
         env:
-          MYSQL_DATABASE: invoiceplane_test
           MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
+          MYSQL_DATABASE: invoiceplane_test
         ports:
           - 3306:3306
         options: >-
diff --git a/.github/workflows/setup.yml b/.github/workflows/setup.yml
index 6287e4d9d..089f6b4e7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/setup.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/setup.yml
@@ -62,14 +62,15 @@ jobs:
 
     services:
       mysql:
-        image: mariadb:10.6
+        image: mariadb:11
         env:
-          MYSQL_DATABASE: ivplv2
-          MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
+          MARIADB_DATABASE: ivplv2
+          MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
+          MARIADB_ROOT_HOST: '%'
         ports:
           - 3306:3306
         options: >-
-          --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping"
+          --health-cmd="healthcheck.sh --connect --innodb_initialized"
           --health-interval=10s
           --health-timeout=5s
           --health-retries=5
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
         with:
           php-version: '8.4'
-          extensions: mbstring, xml, json, pdo, mysql
+          extensions: mbstring, xml, json, pdo, pdo_mysql
           coverage: none
 
       - name: Set up Node.js
diff --git a/.github/workflows/smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/smoke.yml
index e5d9f5e8f..44562920d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/smoke.yml
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ jobs:
       mariadb:
         image: mariadb:10.11
         env:
-          MYSQL_DATABASE: invoiceplane_test
           MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
+          MYSQL_DATABASE: invoiceplane_test
         ports:
           - 3306:3306
         options: >-
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-php-composer
         with:
           php-version: '8.4'
-          php-extensions: 'mbstring, xml, ctype, json, fileinfo, pdo, pdo_mysql, pdo_sqlite, sqlite, bcmath'
+          php-extensions: 'mbstring, xml, ctype, json, fileinfo, pdo, pdo_mysql, bcmath'
           composer-flags: '--prefer-dist --no-interaction'
 
       - name: Prepare Laravel environment
diff --git a/.github/workflows/yarn-update.yml b/.github/workflows/yarn-update.yml
index 72bdd8b85..8b044a2ee 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/yarn-update.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/yarn-update.yml
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-php-composer
         with:
           php-version: '8.4'
-          php-extensions: 'mbstring, xml, ctype, json, fileinfo, pdo, pdo_sqlite, pdo_mysql'
+          php-extensions: 'mbstring, xml, ctype, json, fileinfo, pdo, pdo_mysql'
 
       - name: Check for package-lock.json conflicts
         id: lockfile-check
diff --git a/phpunit.smoke.xml b/phpunit.smoke.xml
index c2788bb95..a794f2dce 100644
--- a/phpunit.smoke.xml
+++ b/phpunit.smoke.xml
@@ -29,8 +29,12 @@
         <env name="APP_MAINTENANCE_DRIVER" value="file"/>
         <env name="BCRYPT_ROUNDS" value="4"/>
         <env name="CACHE_STORE" value="array"/>
-        <env name="DB_CONNECTION" value="sqlite"/>
-        <env name="DB_DATABASE" value=":memory:"/>
+        <env name="DB_CONNECTION" value="mysql"/>
+        <env name="DB_HOST" value="127.0.0.1"/>
+        <env name="DB_PORT" value="3306"/>
+        <env name="DB_DATABASE" value="testing"/>
+        <env name="DB_USERNAME" value="root"/>
+        <env name="DB_PASSWORD" value="root"/>
         <env name="MAIL_MAILER" value="array"/>
         <env name="PULSE_ENABLED" value="false"/>
         <env name="QUEUE_CONNECTION" value="sync"/>
diff --git a/phpunit.xml b/phpunit.xml
index c52013c61..fdc7bcec2 100644
--- a/phpunit.xml
+++ b/phpunit.xml
@@ -26,8 +26,12 @@
         <env name="APP_MAINTENANCE_DRIVER" value="file"/>
         <env name="BCRYPT_ROUNDS" value="4"/>
         <env name="CACHE_STORE" value="array"/>
-        <env name="DB_CONNECTION" value="sqlite"/>
-        <env name="DB_DATABASE" value=":memory:"/>
+        <env name="DB_CONNECTION" value="mysql"/>
+        <env name="DB_HOST" value="127.0.0.1"/>
+        <env name="DB_PORT" value="3306"/>
+        <env name="DB_DATABASE" value="testing"/>
+        <env name="DB_USERNAME" value="root"/>
+        <env name="DB_PASSWORD" value="root"/>
         <env name="MAIL_MAILER" value="array"/>
         <env name="PULSE_ENABLED" value="false"/>
         <env name="QUEUE_CONNECTION" value="sync"/>