/prisma-cli

prisma migrate dev

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

Command

prisma migrate dev [options]

What It Does

1. Runs existing migrations in shadow database to detect drift
2. Applies any pending migrations
3. Generates new migration from schema changes
4. Applies new migration to development database
5. Updates _prisma_migrations table

Options

Follow-up Commands

• Run prisma generate explicitly when you need refreshed client output
• Run prisma db seed explicitly when you need seed data

Run prisma generate as an explicit follow-up when you need refreshed generated artifacts. Do not rely on historical CLI help that described generators as part of migrate dev.

Examples

Create and apply migration

prisma migrate dev

Prompts for migration name if schema changed.

Named migration

prisma migrate dev --name add_users_table

Create without applying

prisma migrate dev --create-only

Useful for reviewing migration SQL before applying.

Full workflow

prisma migrate dev --name my_migration
prisma generate
prisma db seed

Migration Files

Created in prisma/migrations/:

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:

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

// schema.prisma - Add new field
model User {
  id        Int      @id @default(autoincrement())
  email     String   @unique
  name      String?
  createdAt DateTime @default(now())  // New field
}

prisma migrate dev --name add_created_at

Handling data loss warnings

When a migration would cause data loss:

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:

export default defineConfig({
  datasource: {
    url: env('DATABASE_URL'),
    shadowDatabaseUrl: env('SHADOW_DATABASE_URL'),
  },
})

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