migrate

name	migrate
description	Run/create DB migrations (Alembic, Prisma, Laravel, Django, Flyway, Drizzle); checks backup. Triggers: apply migration, rollback, generate migration.
effort	medium
disable-model-invocation	true
argument-hint	[direction]
allowed-tools	Bash, Read
hooks	{"PreToolUse":[{"matcher":"Bash","hooks":[{"type":"command","command":"echo 'Reminder: ensure database backup exists before running migrations'"}]}]}
scripts	["scripts/migration-status.py"]

/migrate - Database Migration Workflow

$ARGUMENTS

What This Command Does

Create, run, or manage database migrations with auto-detection of the migration tool.

Project context

• Migration tools: !ls alembic.ini prisma/ database/migrations/ manage.py 2>/dev/null

Migration Status Script

Detect migration tool and report status:

python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/migration-status.py [directory]

Returns JSON with: tool, config_file, migrations_dir, total_migrations, latest, commands{} (status/create/upgrade/downgrade).

Auto-Detection

File Found	Tool	Commands
alembic.ini	Alembic	alembic revision, alembic upgrade
prisma/schema.prisma	Prisma	npx prisma migrate dev
database/migrations/ + artisan	Laravel	php artisan migrate
manage.py	Django	python manage.py migrate
flyway.conf	Flyway	flyway migrate
drizzle.config.ts	Drizzle	npx drizzle-kit push

Workflow

Create New Migration

1. Detect migration tool
2. Generate migration from model/schema changes
3. Review generated SQL
4. Validate syntax

Run Migrations

1. Show pending migrations
2. Dry-run if supported (--pretend, --sql)
3. Backup reminder
4. Apply with user confirmation
5. Verify success

Rollback

1. Show last applied migration
2. Confirm rollback scope
3. Execute rollback
4. Verify state

Safety Checks (MANDATORY)

• Migration tested on development/staging first
• Rollback path verified
• No data loss in forward or backward direction
• Large table operations use concurrent/online DDL
• Backup exists or reminder given

Usage Examples

/migrate                     # Show migration status
/migrate create add_users    # Create new migration
/migrate run                 # Apply pending migrations
/migrate rollback            # Rollback last migration
/migrate status              # Show applied/pending migrations

Reference Skill

Use migration-patterns skill for zero-downtime strategies and best practices.

Rules

• MUST verify a recent backup exists (or confirmed in-progress) before any forward migration on production
• MUST show the generated SQL (dry-run / --pretend / --sql) before applying — the user approves the diff, not just the command
• NEVER run destructive migrations (DROP TABLE/COLUMN, NOT NULL on existing column, type change) without a tested rollback path
• NEVER mix schema changes and data backfill in the same migration — they fail differently and roll back differently
• CRITICAL: large-table operations use the concurrent/online variant (ALTER TABLE ... ALGORITHM=INPLACE, CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY) — table locks in production cause outages, not slowdowns
• MANDATORY: migrations test on a non-production environment first with representative data volume

Gotchas

• alembic upgrade head silently skips migrations with branches if the branch head is not explicit. Multi-head migrations need alembic upgrade <revision>@head or a merge migration first.
• Prisma's prisma migrate dev auto-generates migrations AND applies them AND reseeds the dev database. Running it on a production-connected config destroys data. Always use prisma migrate deploy in non-dev.
• Laravel's migrate command without --force refuses to run in APP_ENV=production. Scripts that blindly run migrate hang on interactive prompts in prod — always use artisan migrate --force in automation.
• Django's migrate --fake marks a migration as applied without running it. Intended for manual data fixes, but accidentally using it skips real schema changes and silently diverges production from code.
• CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY (Postgres) cannot run inside a transaction. Alembic wraps each migration in a transaction by default — concurrent index creation needs op.execute() with autocommit_block() or a manual COMMIT.
• Rolling back a forward migration that added a NOT NULL column deletes the column; data in that column is gone. "Rollback" is not "undo" if the column held user data during the forward window.

When NOT to Use

• For zero-downtime schema evolution strategy (expand-contract, double-write) — use /migration-patterns
• For designing the schema from scratch — use /database-patterns
• For application-layer rollback (deploying previous code) — use /rollback
• For CI-triggered migrations — use /ci or /deploy
• When no migration tool is detected — propose one from /app-builder instead of ad-hoc SQL