Prisma CLI Migrate Dev Skill for Cursor

prisma migrate dev

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

Command

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

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 (v7)

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/:

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.