What are Migrations in Entity Framework Core and why are they important?

Beginner

Answer

Migrations are a way to incrementally update the database schema to keep it in sync with the entity model while preserving existing data.
Benefits:

  • Version control: Track database schema changes
  • Team collaboration: Share schema changes across team
  • Deployment: Apply changes to different environments
  • Rollback: Undo changes if needed
  • Data preservation: Update schema without losing data
# Add migration
dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate
# Update database
dotnet ef database update
# Remove last migration
dotnet ef migrations remove