Command Line Runner Options

Migrate.exe can be called with the following parameters. The first three parameters are required if running a migration. A lot of the parameters have more than one switch for the same parameter. If a parameter has an = sign after it, then it expects some text value to be set, otherwise it is just a boolean switch e.g. the preview parameter. When writing the command, the = sign is optional (e.g. --task=migrate or --task migrate). Single dashes or double dashes is also optional e.g. -task or --task.

Examples:

Migrate.exe /conn "Data Source=db\db.sqlite;Version=3;" /provider sqlite /assembly your.migrations.dll /verbose

migrate --conn "server=.\SQLEXPRESS;uid=testfm;pwd=test;Trusted_Connection=yes;database=FluentMigrator" --provider sqlserver2008 --assembly "..\Migrations\bin\Debug\Migrations.dll" --task migrate --output --outputFilename migrated.sql

migrate -c "server=.\SQLEXPRESS;uid=testfm;pwd=test;Trusted_Connection=yes;database=FluentMigrator" -db sqlserver2008 -a "..\Migrations\bin\Debug\Migrations.dll" -t migrate -o -of migrated.sql

--assembly, -a, --target=VALUE (required)

The assembly containing the migrations you want to execute.

--provider, --dbtype, --db=VALUE (required)

The kind of database you are migrating against. Available choices are:

Database Identifier Alternative identifier(s)
Microsoft SQL Server 2022 SqlServer2016(1) SqlServer
Microsoft SQL Server 2019 SqlServer2016(2) SqlServer
Microsoft SQL Server 2017 SqlServer2016(3) SqlServer
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 SqlServer2016 SqlServer
Microsoft SQL Server 2014 SqlServer2014 SqlServer
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SqlServer2012 SqlServer
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SqlServer2008 SqlServer
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SqlServer2005 SqlServer
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SqlServer2000 SqlServer
Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition(4) SqlServerCe SqlServer
PostgreSQL Postgres PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL 9.2 Postgres92 PostgreSQL92
PostgreSQL 10.0 PostgreSQL10_0 PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL 11.0 PostgreSQL11_0 PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL 15.0 PostgreSQL15_0 PostgreSQL
MySQL 4 MySql4 MySql
MySQL 5 MySql5 MySql, MariaDB
MySQL 8 MySQL8 MySql, MariaDB
Oracle Oracle
Oracle (managed ADO.NET) OracleManaged Oracle
Oracle (DotConnect ADO.NET) OracleDotConnect Oracle
Microsoft JET Engine (Access) Jet
SQLite Sqlite
Firebird Firebird
Amazon Redshift Redshift
SAP Hana Hana
SAP SQL Anywhere(5) SqlAnywhere16 SqlAnywhere
DB2 DB2
DB2 iSeries DB2 iSeries, IBM DB2 iSeries DB2
  • (1) All integration tests ran without error against an SQL Server 2019 using the SqlServer2016 dialect.
  • (2) All integration tests ran without error against an SQL Server 2019 using the SqlServer2016 dialect.
  • (3) All integration tests ran without error against an SQL Server 2017 using the SqlServer2016 dialect.
  • (4) Support for Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition is being dropped due to Microsoft end-of-life support date passing.
  • (5) Support for SAP SQL Anywhere is being dropped due to SAP not supporting a .NET Core / .NET 5 database driver.

--connectionString, --connection, --conn, -c=VALUE (required, can be a connectionStringName)

The connection string to the server and database you want to execute your migrations against. This can be a full connection string or the name of the connection string stored in a config file.

When specifying a named connection string, FluentMigrator searches for it in this order:

  1. The specified config file via --connectionStringConfigPath](#cscp) parameter
  2. Target assembly's config file
  3. Machine.config config file

--connectionStringConfigPath, --configPath=VALUE

The absolute path of the config file where the connection string named by is found. This parameter is used together with the --connectionString parameter, the --connectionString parameter specifies the name of the connection string in the config file. If the config file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <connectionStrings>
    <clear />
    <add name="SRVConnectionString" connectionString="server=SQLEXPRESS;uid=test;pwd=test;database=FluentMigrator"/>
  </connectionStrings>
</configuration>

Then the --connectionString parameter should be set to SRVConnectionString.

If not specified, it defaults to lookup order specified in the --connectionString parameter documentation.

Note: --connectionStringConfigPath uses absolute path, whereas --assembly uses relative path.

--task, -t=VALUE (optional)

The task you want FluentMigrator to perform. Available choices are:

  • migrate:up
  • migrate (same as migrate:up)
  • migrate:down (used in conjunction with the --version switch. Warning: if you don't supply --version this will revert all migrations)
  • rollback (per default this rollbacks one step. Use the --steps switch to rollback more steps)
  • rollback:toversion (used in conjunction with the --version switch. Will rollback all versions down to the specified version, not including the specified version. The Migration attribute contains the version that should be used with the --version switch.)
  • rollback:all
  • listmigrations

Default is 'migrate'.

--verbose=VALUE (optional)

Show the SQL statements generated and execution time in the console. Default is false. This should be a boolean switch but is not. VALUE can be anything to set to true and the switch should not be specified to set it to false. For example, --verbose qwerty would set it to true.

--output, --out, -o (optional)

Output generated SQL to a file. Default is no output. Use outputFilename to control the filename, otherwise [assemblyname].sql is the default. This is a boolean switch so it does not take a value.

--outputFilename, --outfile, --of=VALUE (optional)

The name of the file to output the generated SQL to. The output option must be included for output to be saved to the file.

--outputSemicolonDelimiter, --outsemdel, -osd (optional)

SQL statements in output file are delimited with a semicolon.

--namespace, --ns=VALUE (optional)

The namespace that contains the migrations you want to run. Default is all migrations found within the Target Assembly will be run.

--nested (optional)

Whether migrations in nested namespaces should be included. Used in conjunction with the namespace option. The default is false so that nested namespaces are not included. This is a boolean switch so it does not take a value.

--steps=VALUE (optional)

The number of versions to rollback if the task is 'rollback'. Default is 1.

--preview, -p (optional)

Only output the migration steps - do not execute them. Add the --verbose switch to also see the SQL statements. Default is false. This is a boolean switch so it does not take a value.

--version=VALUE (optional)

The specific version to migrate. Default is 0, which will run all migrations. The version of a migration is the unique identifier that is contained in the Migration attribute. For example, if a Migration has this attribute [Migration(201303062126)] then the version is 201303062126.

--startVersion=VALUE

The specific version to start migrating from. Only used when NoConnection is true. Should therefore only be used when generating an output file. Default is 0

--noConnection

Indicates that migrations will be generated without consulting a target database. Should only be used when generating an output file.

--profile=VALUE (optional)

The "profile":https://github.com/schambers/fluentmigrator/wiki/Profiles to run after executing migrations.

--timeout=VALUE (optional)

Overrides the default SqlCommand timeout of 30 seconds.

--workingdirectory, --wd=VALUE (optional)

The directory to load SQL scripts specified by migrations from.

--tag=VALUE

Filters migrations to be run based on tags. See Filter migrations run based on tags. See also --include-untagged option.

--include-untagged:

Includes untagged migrations. By default, if you use --tag=VALUE to filter migrations to be run based on tags, untagged migrations will be excluded.

--context=VALUE

A string argument that can be used in a migration. See ApplicationContext: Passing parameters to Migrations

--transaction-per-session, --tps (optional)

The default transaction is one transaction per migration so the default for this switch is false. Run migrations in one transaction per session (task) instead. This is a boolean switch so it does not take a value.

--stopOnError

Pauses migration execution until the user input if any error occurred. Default is false.

--allow-breaking-changes

Allows execution of migrations marked as breaking changes. Default is false.

--strip-

Disables stripping of comments from executed SQL. Note the - at the end of the command.

--help, -h, -?

Displays help menu.

--providerswitches=VALUE

Specify provider specific options, for instance:

  • (Oracle) QUOTEDIDENTIFIERS=TRUE, which will quote identifiers always
  • (Firebird) Force Quote=true, which will quote identifiers always