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prisma-cli-migrate-dev

✓ Official★ 8

by prisma · part of prisma/cursor-plugin

prisma migrate dev. Reference when using this Prisma feature.

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🧩 One of 7 skills in the prisma/cursor-plugin package — works on its own, and pairs well with its siblings.

prisma migrate dev. Reference when using this Prisma feature.

Inspect the full instructions your agent will receiveExpand

This is the exact playbook injected into your agent when the skill activates — shown here so you can audit it before installing. You don't need to read it to use the skill.

by prisma

prisma migrate dev. Reference when using this Prisma feature. npx skills add https://github.com/prisma/cursor-plugin --skill prisma-cli-migrate-dev Download ZIPGitHub8

prisma migrate dev

Creates and applies migrations during development. Requires a shadow database.

Command

Copy & paste — that's it
prisma migrate dev [options]

What It Does

  • Runs existing migrations in shadow database to detect drift

  • Applies any pending migrations

  • Generates new migration from schema changes

  • Applies new migration to development database

  • Updates _prisma_migrations table

Options

Option Description --name / -n Name the migration --create-only Create a new migration but do not apply it --schema Custom path to your Prisma schema --config Custom path to your Prisma config file --url Override the datasource URL from the Prisma config file

Removed in v7

  • --skip-generate - Run prisma generate explicitly

  • --skip-seed - Run prisma db seed explicitly

Examples

Create and apply migration

Copy & paste — that's it
prisma migrate dev

Prompts for migration name if schema changed.

Named migration

Copy & paste — that's it
prisma migrate dev --name add_users_table

Create without applying

Copy & paste — that's it
prisma migrate dev --create-only

Useful for reviewing migration SQL before applying.

Full workflow (v7)

Copy & paste — that's it
prisma migrate dev --name my_migration
prisma generate # Must run explicitly in v7
prisma db seed # Must run explicitly in v7

Migration Files

Created in prisma/migrations/:

Copy & paste — that's it
prisma/migrations/
├── 20240115120000_add_users_table/
│ └── migration.sql
├── 20240116090000_add_posts/
│ └── migration.sql
└── migration_lock.toml

Schema Drift Detection

If migrate dev detects drift (manual database changes or edited migrations), it prompts to reset:

Copy & paste — that's it
Drift detected: Your database schema is not in sync.

Do you want to reset your database? All data will be lost.

When to Use

  • Local development

  • Adding new models/fields

  • Changing relations

  • Creating indexes

When NOT to Use

  • Production deployments (use migrate deploy)

  • CI/CD pipelines (use migrate deploy)

  • MongoDB (use db push instead)

Common Patterns

After schema changes

Copy & paste — that's it
// schema.prisma - Add new field
model User {
 id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
 email String @unique
 name String?
 createdAt DateTime @default(now()) // New field
}
Copy & paste — that's it
prisma migrate dev --name add_created_at

Handling data loss warnings

When a migration would cause data loss:

Copy & paste — that's it
prisma migrate dev --name remove_field
# Warning: You are about to delete data...
# Accept with: --accept-data-loss

Shadow Database

migrate dev requires a shadow database for drift detection. Configure in prisma.config.ts:

Copy & paste — that's it
export default defineConfig({
 datasource: {
 url: env('DATABASE_URL'),
 shadowDatabaseUrl: env('SHADOW_DATABASE_URL'),
 },
})

For local Prisma Postgres (prisma dev), shadow database is handled automatically.