modulus add-migration

Adds an EF Core migration for a module's DbContext, wrapping dotnet ef migrations add with the solution's project layout so you never hand-assemble --project/--startup-project paths.

Usage

# Migration for the Orders module's OrdersDbContext
modulus add-migration AddOrderTable --module Orders

# Preview the exact dotnet-ef invocation without running it
modulus add-migration AddOrderTable --module Orders --dry-run

What It Runs

dotnet ef migrations add <MigrationName> \
  --project src/Modules/<Module>/src/<Module>.Infrastructure/<Module>.Infrastructure.csproj \
  --startup-project src/<Solution>.WebApi/<Solution>.WebApi.csproj \
  --context <Module>DbContext \
  --output-dir Migrations

The module's Infrastructure project owns the context, so the migration lands there (Migrations/ by default). The WebApi host is the design-time startup project: its generated AddAllModules(...) registers the module's context with the real provider, so no IDesignTimeDbContextFactory is needed — and because migrations add never contacts the database, the placeholder ConnectionStrings:Default works fine.

Arguments & Options

Argument / Option	Description
<migration-name>	PascalCase migration name (e.g. AddOrderTable).
--module, -m	Required. The module whose DbContext the migration targets.
--solution, -s	Path to the .slnx (default: auto-find in current or parent directories).
--context <NAME>	DbContext class name (default: {Module}DbContext).
--output-dir <DIR>	Migrations directory relative to the Infrastructure project (default: Migrations).
--dry-run	Print the exact dotnet ef invocation and resolved paths without running anything.

Prerequisites

• The dotnet-ef tool: dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef. A failed run prints this hint.
• Scaffolds created from 3.1.0 onward reference Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design in the WebApi host. Older scaffolds: add the Design package reference to the host project (with PrivateAssets=all) and the pin to Directory.Packages.props.

Notes

• Only the write context gets migrations. The scaffolded {Module}ReadOnlyDbContext maps the identical model for no-tracking queries — never generate migrations for it.
• Messaging tables appear in module migrations. The scaffolded BaseDbContext maps the outbox/inbox tables into every module context under the module's schema; that is separate from the host-level ModulusKit.Messaging contexts, which are migrated by UseModulusMessagingMigrationsAsync (see the messaging migrations guide).
• Applying migrations is your choice of context.Database.MigrateAsync() at startup or dotnet ef database update with the same --project/--startup-project pair.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Migration added (or --dry-run preview printed).
1	Validation failure (bad name, unknown module, missing projects) or dotnet ef failed — the failing invocation is printed for manual re-run.

See Also

• modulus add-module — where the Infrastructure project comes from
• Outbox Pattern — the messaging tables mapped by BaseDbContext