Commands

This guide is the reference for every Ace command Lucid ships with. Commands fall into four families: make:* for scaffolding files, migration:* for applying and rolling back schema changes, db:* for seeding and clearing data, and schema:* for working with the generated database/schema.ts file and schema dumps.

Every command accepts the flags documented below alongside AdonisJS's standard command flags (like --help).

make:migration

Creates a new migration file inside database/migrations with a timestamped filename.

node ace make:migration posts --create=posts

name (argument)

Name of the migration file. Lucid prefixes the file with a timestamp automatically.

--connection, -c <name>

Select the database connection the migration belongs to. The file is created inside that connection's first configured migration path.

--folder <path>

Select the migration directory when the connection has multiple migration paths configured.

--create <table>

Scaffold a migration that creates the given table. This is the default action.

--alter <table>

Scaffold a migration that alters the given table instead of creating one.

--contents-from <path>

Use the contents of the given file as the generated migration source, bypassing the default template.

--force, -f

Overwrite the file if it already exists.

make:model

Creates a new Lucid model file inside app/models. The generated class extends the schema class for the corresponding table by default.

node ace make:model Post

name (argument)

Name of the model class. Lucid converts it to snake_case for the filename.

--migration

Generate a matching migration file alongside the model.

--controller

Generate a matching resourceful controller for the model.

--transformer

Generate a matching transformer file for the model.

--factory

Generate a matching factory file for the model.

--contents-from <path>

Use the contents of the given file as the generated model source.

--force

Overwrite the file if it already exists.

make:factory

Creates a new model factory inside database/factories.

node ace make:factory Post

model (argument)

Name of the model the factory produces. Lucid imports the model into the factory file.

--contents-from <path>

Use the contents of the given file as the generated factory source.

--force, -f

Overwrite the file if it already exists.

make:seeder

Creates a new seeder file inside database/seeders.

node ace make:seeder User

name (argument)

Name of the seeder class. The filename is derived from this name.

--contents-from <path>

Use the contents of the given file as the generated seeder source.

--force, -f

Overwrite the file if it already exists.

migration:run

Applies every pending migration in order, records each one in the adonis_schema table, and regenerates database/schema.ts when finished.

node ace migration:run

❯ migrated database/migrations/1720000000000_create_posts_table
❯ migrated database/migrations/1720000000001_create_comments_table

Migrated in 42 ms

--connection, -c <name>

Run migrations for the given connection instead of the default.

--force

Explicitly allow the command to run in production. Migration commands refuse to run in production unless this flag is present.

--dry-run

Print the SQL that would run without executing it. Useful for reviewing generated SQL in code review.

--compact-output

Emit a single-line summary instead of per-file progress lines.

--disable-locks

Skip the advisory lock that serializes concurrent migration runs. Only disable when you are certain no other process is migrating the same database.

--schema-path <path>

Load a schema dump file before running pending migrations. Used to bootstrap a fresh database from a schema dump without replaying the entire migration history. See the schema dumps guide.

--no-schema-generate

Skip regenerating database/schema.ts after the migrations apply. Default is to regenerate.

migration:rollback

Reverts the most recent batch of migrations. Pass --step to roll back a specific number of files, or --batch to roll back to a specific batch number.

node ace migration:rollback
node ace migration:rollback --step=2
node ace migration:rollback --batch=0

--connection, -c <name>

Roll back migrations on the given connection.

--force

Explicitly allow the command to run in production.

--dry-run

Print the SQL that would run without executing it.

--batch <number>

Roll back to the given batch number. Pass 0 to roll back every migration.

--step <number>

Roll back the given number of migration files regardless of batch.

--compact-output

Emit a single-line summary instead of per-file progress lines.

--disable-locks

Skip the advisory lock that serializes concurrent migration runs.

--no-schema-generate

Skip regenerating database/schema.ts after the rollback. Default is to regenerate.

migration:refresh

Rolls back every migration, then re-runs all migrations from scratch. Optionally runs seeders after the refresh when --seed is provided.

node ace migration:refresh
node ace migration:refresh --seed

--connection, -c <name>

Refresh migrations on the given connection.

--force

Explicitly allow the command to run in production.

--dry-run

Print the SQL that would run without executing it.

--seed

Run database seeders after the refresh completes.

--compact-output

Emit a single-line summary instead of per-file progress lines.

--disable-locks

Skip the advisory lock that serializes concurrent migration runs.

--no-schema-generate

Skip regenerating database/schema.ts after the refresh. Default is to regenerate.

migration:reset

Rolls back every migration without re-running them. Leaves the database with an empty migration history.

node ace migration:reset

--connection, -c <name>

Reset migrations on the given connection.

--force

Explicitly allow the command to run in production.

--dry-run

Print the SQL that would run without executing it.

--compact-output

Emit a single-line summary instead of per-file progress lines.

--disable-locks

Skip the advisory lock that serializes concurrent migration runs.

--no-schema-generate

Skip regenerating database/schema.ts after reset. Default is to regenerate.

migration:fresh

Drops every table in the database (plus views, types, and domains when flagged) and re-runs all migrations from scratch. Functionally similar to migration:refresh, but skips the rollback path in favor of dropping everything directly.

node ace migration:fresh
node ace migration:fresh --seed

--connection, -c <name>

Run on the given connection.

--force

Explicitly allow the command to run in production.

--seed

Run database seeders after migrations complete.

--drop-views

Drop all views before running migrations.

--drop-types

Drop all custom PostgreSQL types before running migrations. PostgreSQL only.

--drop-domains

Drop all PostgreSQL domains before running migrations. PostgreSQL only.

--disable-locks

Skip the advisory lock that serializes concurrent migration runs.

--schema-path <path>

Load a schema dump file before dropping and recreating the database. See the schema dumps guide.

migration:status

Lists every migration file and its status (pending, completed, or errored), grouped by batch.

node ace migration:status

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────┬───────┬─────────┐
│ Name                                          │ Status    │ Batch │ Message │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┼───────┼─────────┤
│ 1720000000000_create_posts_table              │ completed │ 1     │         │
│ 1720000000001_create_comments_table           │ completed │ 1     │         │
│ 1720000000002_add_published_at_to_posts_table │ pending   │       │         │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────┴───────┴─────────┘

--connection, -c <name>

List status for the given connection.

db:seed

Runs every seeder inside database/seeders. Pass --files to run a specific subset, or --interactive to pick seeders interactively.

node ace db:seed
node ace db:seed --interactive
node ace db:seed --files=./database/seeders/user_seeder.ts

--connection, -c <name>

Run seeders against the given connection.

--interactive, -i

Select seeders to run interactively instead of running every file.

--files <paths...>

Run only the listed seeder files. Pass the flag multiple times or use a comma-separated list.

--compact-output

Emit a single-line summary instead of per-seeder progress lines.

db:wipe

Drops every table in the database, along with optionally all views, custom types, and domains. Combine with migration:run or use migration:fresh when you want to rebuild.

node ace db:wipe

--connection, -c <name>

Target the given connection.

--drop-views

Drop all views.

--drop-types

Drop all custom PostgreSQL types. PostgreSQL only.

--drop-domains

Drop all PostgreSQL domains. PostgreSQL only.

--force

Explicitly allow the command to run in production.

Tables listed in wipe.ignoreTables inside your connection config are preserved. See the configuration guide.

db:truncate

Truncates every table in the database, preserving schema. Useful when you want to reset data between tests or dev runs without dropping tables.

node ace db:truncate

--connection, -c <name>

Target the given connection.

--force

Explicitly allow the command to run in production.

schema:dump

Writes the current database schema to a single SQL file, alongside a sidecar JSON manifest. The dump is used by migration:run --schema-path and migration:fresh --schema-path to bootstrap a database without replaying the full migration history, which is useful for applications with long migration histories. See the schema dumps guide for the end-to-end workflow.

node ace schema:dump
node ace schema:dump --path=./database/schema.sql

--connection, -c <name>

Dump the schema for the given connection.

--path <path>

Write the dump to a custom location. Defaults to database/schema/{connection}-schema.sql.

--prune

Delete every migration file from the configured migration paths after dumping. Use this when collapsing a long migration history into a single schema dump. See squashing a long migration history.

schema:generate

Regenerates database/schema.ts by introspecting the database. Migration commands run this automatically when they finish, so this command is mainly useful when adopting a legacy database for the first time or after manual schema changes.

node ace schema:generate

❯ Generated database/schema.ts

--connection, -c <name>

Generate schema classes from the given connection.

--compact-output

Emit a single-line summary instead of detailed progress.