1. Check if the database is really called happylister
2. Check in your .env file or config/database.php that you're really connecting to the database happylister and not another one

And yes, Artisan does use database to check some stuff under the hood.

It happens to me as well. Someone suggested that it might happen because of a seeder or a console command that is trying to use a missing table and the suggested solution is to comment the command or seeder in Kernel/Seeder. PS: I tried that but it didn't work.

Just fixed it. I was making a model select in the AppServiceProvider boot() function. The table for it was not created yet.