ZenStack V3 — Database Migrations

ZenStack keeps your database schema in sync with your ZModel data model. Migration is built on top of Prisma Migrate: the zen CLI generates a Prisma schema from your ZModel under the hood and wraps the corresponding Prisma command. If you know Prisma Migrate, the workflow is identical — just swap prisma for zen. Existing migration history keeps working once moved into ZenStack's layout (prisma/migrations → zenstack/migrations, the default location next to zenstack/schema.zmodel).

This skill assumes a project is already set up (see zenstack-project-setup). Schema authoring is in zenstack-schema-modeling. @zenstackhq/cli carries a peer dependency on prisma, installed automatically when needed.

Run zen generate after schema changes to refresh generated types; migration commands operate on the schema independently of the generated client.

Two ways to evolve the schema

Typical loop: prototype with db push while iterating, then create a migration with migrate dev once the shape settles.

Commands

All migration/db commands accept --schema <file> (defaults to zenstack/schema.zmodel) and --migrations <path> (the directory holding migrations/).

zen migrate dev — create + apply a migration (development)

Diffs the schema against migration history, generates a new timestamped migration file, and applies it to the dev database. Prompts if a full reset is required (e.g. drift).

zen migrate dev --name add_published_flag

• -n, --name <name> — name the migration (otherwise you're prompted).
• --create-only — generate the migration file without applying it. Use this to hand-edit SQL,

or to implement features the migration engine doesn't generate yet (e.g. database views — create an empty migration and write the SQL manually), then apply later with zen migrate dev.

Review the generated SQL before committing it to source control.

zen migrate deploy — apply pending migrations (production)

Applies all not-yet-applied migrations. Idempotent and non-interactive — this is the command for your deployment pipeline. It never generates new migrations or resets data.

zen migrate deploy

zen migrate status — inspect migration state

Shows which migrations are applied vs. pending. Useful in CI before deploying.

zen migrate status

zen migrate resolve — fix history without touching the schema

Marks a migration as applied or rolled back — for manual recovery (e.g. a migration applied out-of-band, or a failed one). Does not change the database schema.

zen migrate resolve --applied 20240101120000_add_users
zen migrate resolve --rolled-back 20240101120000_add_users

zen migrate reset — wipe and reapply (development)

Drops all tables and replays every migration from scratch. Destructive — dev/testing only, never production.

zen migrate reset --force   # --force skips the confirmation prompt

If a seed script is configured, it runs after reset (use --skip-seed to skip).

zen db push — sync schema, no migration file (development)

Pushes the schema straight to the database. Great for rapid prototyping; no history is recorded.

zen db push
zen db push --accept-data-loss   # proceed despite data-loss warnings
zen db push --force-reset        # reset the DB before pushing

zen db pull — introspect an existing database (v3.4.0+, experimental)

Loads the database schema, diffs it against your ZModel, and updates the ZModel to match. Useful for adopting ZenStack on an existing DB, or re-syncing after out-of-band DB changes. This has its own implementation (not Prisma's introspection engine).

zen db pull

Options: -o, --output <path>, --model-casing <pascal|camel|snake|none> (default pascal), --field-casing <...> (default camel), --always-map (always emit @map/@@map), --quote <double|single> (default single), --indent <number> (default 4).

Warning: zen db pull can overwrite your schema file. Commit or back it up first.

zen db seed — seed the database

Runs the seed script declared in package.json under zenstack.seed:

{ "zenstack": { "seed": "tsx ./zenstack/seed.ts" } }

zen db seed
zen db seed -- --users 10   # args after -- are forwarded to the seed script

Workflows

Development

1. Edit zenstack/schema.zmodel.
2. zen db push to try it instantly while iterating (optionally zen db seed).
3. When the shape is final, zen migrate dev --name <change> to create the migration.
4. Review the SQL, commit the migration file.

Production / CI deployment

zen migrate deploy

Run it in the release pipeline. Optionally gate on zen migrate status first. Do not run db push, migrate dev, or migrate reset against production.

Adopt an existing database

zen init → set the datasource url → zen db pull → refine the schema (policies, computed fields) → zen generate. See zenstack-project-setup.

Adopting from Prisma

Because migration wraps Prisma Migrate, your existing migration history keeps working once you move the prisma/migrations directory to zenstack/migrations (ZenStack's default, next to zenstack/schema.zmodel) and replace the prisma migrate ... / prisma db ... scripts with the zen equivalents. Full framework migration is covered by zenstack-migrate-from-prisma.

Reference docs

Full ZenStack documentation for this topic is bundled under references/:

• migration.md — migration concepts and workflows
• introspection.md — zen db pull introspection
• cli-reference.md — complete migrate/db command + option reference