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Migrations

Use the CLI migration commands to keep SQL and Mongo schema changes deterministic.

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Core commands

  • make:migration
  • migrate:run
  • migrate:rollback
  • migrate:reset
  • migrate:fresh
  • migrate:status

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Environment targets

Use --test and connection flags for CI-safe migration execution.

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Stability reminders

  • Guarded destructive operations (reset, fresh) require production protection.
  • --all-connections remains SQL-only (mysql, pg, sqlite).
  • Use --mongo only when explicitly targeting Mongo.

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Safety

Prefer backup-and-verify for production paths and explicit environment control.

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Model-first rule

Use models as the source of truth first, then generate migrations from them. When you need physical foreign keys, composite indexes, or named relational constraints, define them in static database and then run make:migration.

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Timestamp columns

Timestamp semantics stay in static schema, not static database.
  • column("timestamp") keeps the legacy ORM default:
    • SQL runtime timestamp column
    • current-time default unless you opt out
  • use { useTz: true } when PostgreSQL must emit TIMESTAMPTZ
  • use { defaultNow: false } for business timestamps that must start empty until the application sets them
  • column("softDeletes") never defaults to the current time
Examples: 
created_at: column("timestamp", undefined, { useTz: true })
updated_at: column("timestamp", undefined, { useTz: true })
read_at: column("timestamp", undefined, { useTz: true, defaultNow: false })
expires_at: column("timestamp", undefined, { useTz: true, defaultNow: false })
deleted_at: column("softDeletes", undefined, { useTz: true })