Database Migration Helper

Detect Migration Tool

!ls prisma/ migrations/ alembic/ alembic.ini db/migrate/ knexfile.* flyway.conf sequelize* typeorm* drizzle.config.* 2>/dev/null !ls package.json 2>/dev/null && cat package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E "prisma|knex|sequelize|typeorm|drizzle|kysely|mikro-orm" | head -5 !ls requirements.txt pyproject.toml 2>/dev/null && cat requirements.txt pyproject.toml 2>/dev/null | grep -iE "alembic|django|sqlalchemy|tortoise" 2>/dev/null | head -5 !ls go.mod 2>/dev/null && cat go.mod 2>/dev/null | grep -E "goose|migrate|atlas|ent" | head -5

Existing Migrations

!find . -path "*/migrations/*" -o -path "*/migrate/*" -o -path "*/prisma/migrations/*" -o -path "*/db/migrate/*" 2>/dev/null | grep -v node_modules | tail -10

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Migration Process

Step 1: Understand the Change

1. Parse the requested schema change
2. Identify affected tables/collections
3. Check current schema state
4. Determine if this is: CREATE, ALTER, DROP, or INDEX

Step 2: Safety Analysis

Data Loss Risk Assessment:

• Dropping a column/table → HIGH RISK — requires data backup
• Renaming a column → MEDIUM RISK — two-step migration recommended
• Adding NOT NULL without default → HIGH RISK — will fail on existing rows
• Changing column type → MEDIUM RISK — potential data truncation
• Adding column with default → LOW RISK — safe
• Adding index → LOW RISK — may lock table on large datasets

Step 3: Generate Migration

For Prisma (Node.js)

npx prisma migrate dev --name <description>

Update schema.prisma first, then generate.

For Alembic (Python/SQLAlchemy)

alembic revision --autogenerate -m "<description>"

For Django

python manage.py makemigrations --name <description>

For Rails ActiveRecord

rails generate migration <Description>

For Knex/Sequelize

Create migration file manually following existing patterns.

For Go (goose/migrate)

Create SQL files with up/down sections.

For Raw SQL

Generate separate UP and DOWN files.

Step 4: Migration Content

UP migration must include:

• Table/column creation or modification
• Default values for new NOT NULL columns
• Indexes for columns used in WHERE, JOIN, ORDER BY
• Foreign key constraints where appropriate
• Comments explaining the change

DOWN migration must include:

• Exact reversal of the UP migration
• Data preservation strategy if dropping columns
• Warning comments for irreversible operations

Step 5: Index Recommendations

For the affected tables, recommend indexes based on:

• New foreign key columns (always index)
• Columns used in WHERE clauses
• Columns used in ORDER BY
• Columns used in JOIN conditions
• Composite indexes for multi-column queries

Step 6: Deployment Notes

• Run on staging first
• Estimated duration for large tables
• Lock implications (table locks, row locks)
• Recommended maintenance window (if needed)
• Rollback command

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Rules

• Always generate both UP and DOWN migrations
• Never drop columns without explicit user confirmation
• Always add indexes for foreign keys
• Test migrations against a copy of production data when possible
• Include data migration logic if restructuring data