migrate-mcp

Inspect, explain, and prepare database migrations without giving an agent permission to run them.

migrate-mcp is an open-source MCP server for Alembic, golang-migrate, TypeORM, Sequelize, and Prisma. It detects frameworks from repository evidence, inspects migration state and drift through framework-native commands, reviews risk, generates files with explicit approval, explains changes, and gives rollback guidance.

It deliberately exposes no tool that applies a migration or executes a rollback.

30-second setup

Add this server to your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "migrate": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "migrate-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Then ask: Detect the migration framework in this repo and review the pending migration.

Tools

| Tool | Purpose | Writes files | | --- | --- | --- | | detect_migration_frameworks | Detect supported frameworks with evidence | No | | list_migration_status | Inventory migrations and query status where configured | No | | detect_schema_drift | Run verified framework-native drift checks | No | | review_migrations | Find destructive, availability, data, and rollback risk | No | | generate_migration | Generate through the framework CLI after approval | Yes | | explain_migration | Explain recognized operations in plain English | No | | get_rollback_guidance | Describe rollback steps and uncertainty | No |

Safety model

• No apply, upgrade, deploy, rollback, or downgrade execution tools.
• Generation requires approved: true, validates the name, and blocks production-like targets.
• Commands use argument arrays with shell: false, bounded output, timeouts, and a small environment allowlist.
• Paths are resolved against a real repository root and symlink escapes are rejected.
• Credentials are redacted from diagnostics.
• Unsupported capabilities return an explicit unsupported or partial result instead of guessed output.

Generation can still execute project-owned framework configuration, so review repositories before granting an agent access.

Framework support

| Framework | Detect | Status | Drift | Generate | Review and explain | | -------------- | ------ | -------------- | ----------- | ------------ | ------------------ | | Alembic | Yes | CLI-backed | CLI-backed | Autogenerate | Yes | | golang-migrate | Yes | Version-backed | Partial | Skeleton | Yes | | TypeORM | Yes | CLI-backed | CLI-backed | CLI-backed | Yes | | Sequelize | Yes | CLI-backed | Unsupported | Skeleton | Yes | | Prisma | Yes | CLI-backed | CLI-backed | CLI-backed | Yes |

Database-backed operations require the same framework configuration and credentials that the project CLI requires. Offline inventory remains available when those are absent.

Programmatic API

import { detectMigrationFrameworks, reviewMigrations } from "migrate-mcp";

const frameworks = await detectMigrationFrameworks(process.cwd());
const review = await reviewMigrations({
  repository: process.cwd(),
  paths: ["migrations/20260923_add_accounts.sql"],
});

Development

Requires Node.js 22 or newer.

npm ci
npm run check

See CONTRIBUTING.md for fixture and adapter guidelines. Security concerns belong in SECURITY.md.

License

MIT