EF Core Migrations Quick Reference

• Jul 11, 2025
• •
• 1 min read
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• EF Core •
• Reference

EF Core migration commands that I find myself looking up constantly.

Run these from the project directory containing your DbContext. Add --project <ProjectName> if running from solution root. Use --output-dir Data/Migrations to organize migrations in a specific folder.

# Install EF Core CLI globally
dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef

# Check migration status and list all migrations
dotnet ef migrations list

# Apply pending migrations to database
dotnet ef database update

# Generate new migration with descriptive name
dotnet ef migrations add <MigrationName>
dotnet ef migrations add <MigrationName> --output-dir Data/Migrations

# Drop database
dotnet ef database drop

# Remove all migrations
dotnet ef migrations remove --force

# View DbContext information and connection details
dotnet ef dbcontext info

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