Your application's database changes over time. You may add a table today, a column next week, and a new relationship later. Making those changes manually in every environment becomes difficult. That's why migrations are useful.
What Is a Migration?
A migration is a tracked database change. For example:
Create users table then:
Add avatar column then:
Create orders table Each change becomes part of the project's history.
Keep Changes in Git
Store your migration files alongside your application code. Now your application and database structure can evolve together.
Test Before Production
Run new migrations against your development environment first. Check that existing data remains compatible.
Apply to Production
After testing, apply the migration to your production database. Be Careful With Destructive Changes Dropping a column or table can permanently remove information. For important production changes, create backups before applying destructive migrations.
Keep Environments Consistent
A migration-based workflow makes it easier to understand which database changes have already been applied. This becomes increasingly important as your team and application grow.