How to change the database schema in this repo. Current engine: node-pg-migrate, with SQL generated from Drizzle schema changes when possible. Load whenever you add/alter/drop a table, column, enum, index, constraint, RLS/function/grant, or any file under packages/db/migrations.
Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
Are you the author of Migration?
Add the live security badge to your README. It updates with every re-scan.
[](https://www.skillsdirectory.com/skills/kortix-ai-migration)
---
name: migration
description: "How to change the database schema in this repo. Current engine: node-pg-migrate, with SQL generated from Drizzle schema changes when possible. Load whenever you add/alter/drop a table, column, enum, index, constraint, RLS/function/grant, or any file under packages/db/migrations."
---
# Database migrations
The canonical, detailed runbook is `packages/db/MIGRATIONS.md`. This skill is a
short safety wrapper; if anything here seems incomplete, trust that file and the
current `package.json` scripts.
> **Also load the `learnings` skill.** It carries the incident rules that apply
> while WRITING a migration — above all: never backfill data inside a
> single-transaction `.sql` migration (2026-08-10 v0.12.7 prod outage; enforced
> by the `backfill-safe` lint guard, but the rule explains what to build
> instead: a batched `.concurrent.ts` pass or an out-of-band runbook).
## Current model
- **Engine:** node-pg-migrate, invoked by `packages/db/scripts/migrate.ts`.
- **Schema source:** `packages/db/src/schema/kortix.ts` for the Drizzle-modeled
`kortix` schema.
- **Migration files:** immutable SQL files in `packages/db/migrations/`, named
with a 17-digit UTC timestamp (`YYYYMMDDHHMMSSmmm_slug.sql`).
- **Applied-state table:** `kortix_migrations.pgmigrations` (node-pg-migrate
tracks migration names; it does not checksum file contents).
- **Deploy:** `deploy-dev.yml` and `deploy-prod.yml` run `pnpm --filter
@kortix/db migrate` before the ECS Fargate rollout (`infra/scripts/ecs-deploy.sh`).
Migrations always land before new code.
## Rules
1. Never edit a migration that has been applied anywhere. Write a new migration.
2. Never use `drizzle-kit push` or hand-apply production DDL outside the migration
flow.
3. Review every generated SQL file before it reaches a shared DB.
4. Prefer expand/contract for destructive or compatibility-sensitive changes.
Any migration that drops/alters a constraint, unique index, column, or enum
value needs a `-- mixed-version-safe: <...>` (or `-- enum-value-checked: <...>`
for `ADD VALUE`) annotation, or CI fails it — see MIGRATIONS.md's worked
examples (the 20260713220001000 unique-index-drop incident and the
sandbox_provider "platinum" enum-drift incident).
5. Adding an index/dropping an index on an EXISTING table: use
`pnpm migrate:create <slug> --concurrent` (the `.concurrent.ts` escape
hatch), never a plain `CREATE INDEX` — see MIGRATIONS.md "Roll-forward
safety" for why plain SQL migrations structurally can't run CONCURRENTLY
here, and the multi-statement `pgm.sql()` footgun to avoid.
6. Prod is live: show the exact SQL and get explicit go-ahead before any manual
prod migration action.
## Commands from repo root
| Command | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `pnpm migrate` | Apply pending migrations using node-pg-migrate. |
| `pnpm migrate:status` | List pending migrations; read-only (reads the ledger, never runs a migration); exits non-zero if any are pending. |
| `pnpm migrate:create <slug>` | Scaffold a hand-written SQL migration with the house-rules template. |
| `pnpm migrate:create <slug> --concurrent` | Scaffold the `.concurrent.ts` CONCURRENTLY escape hatch. |
| `pnpm migrate:generate <slug>` | Generate SQL from a `kortix.ts` schema change and update the Drizzle snapshot. |
| `pnpm migrate:fake` | Mark pending migrations as applied without running them (for baselining existing envs). |
| `pnpm --filter @kortix/db lint` | Full local check: filename/order rules + mixed-version/enum-value guard + squawk (deterministic Postgres zero-downtime linter). Run before every push touching `packages/db/migrations`. |
| `pnpm migrate:lint` | Just the filename/order/mixed-version/enum-value checks (no squawk, no network). |
## Safe schema-change loop
1. Edit `packages/db/src/schema/kortix.ts` for schema-shape changes, or create a
hand-written migration for data/RLS/functions/grants/custom SQL, or a
`--concurrent` migration for index create/drop.
2. Run `pnpm migrate:generate <slug>` or `pnpm migrate:create <slug> [--concurrent]`.
3. Read the SQL top-to-bottom. Stop on accidental `DROP`, unsafe type changes,
immediate `NOT NULL` on populated tables, non-idempotent backfills, or a
missing mixed-version/enum-value annotation.
4. Run `pnpm --filter @kortix/db lint` and the relevant package tests/checks.
5. Apply to a local/throwaway DB before dev/prod when the change is non-trivial.
6. Commit both the migration SQL and any generated Drizzle snapshot changes.
See `packages/db/MIGRATIONS.md` for the full baseline, preview/prod behavior,
self-hosting command, and failure drill.