Visual Studio Code Entity Framework Core Add-Migration not recognized

Question

I've used yoman to generate an ASP.Net Core Web API application via the Visual Studio Code Editor. For reference, I followed this tutorial here.

The API works fine. However, I am trying to use EntityFramework Core Migrations with SQL Server. When I type the following into the Visual Studio Code Terminal:

Add-Migration MyDbInitialMigration

I get the following message:

'Add-Migration' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

I have the Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools: 1.1.0-preview4-final dependency installed. I did this using the .Net Core Project Manager (Nuget) extension.

In Visual Studio 2015 this command works fine from the Package Manager Console.

I assume that using Visual Studio Code's Terminal is the problem. But does anyone know how I can use EF Core Migrations from within the VSCode editor itself?

Solution

Running the dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate command yielded the following error:

No executable found matching command "dotnet-ef"

To solve this I needed to install the following dependency, And add it to the tools section:

Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.DotNet

To further your suspicions, can you confirm the same doesn't work in a console? Please also post your full project.json or packages file. — Jon Douglas
– Jon Douglas, Commented Jan 8, 2017 at 19:03
from console you should use the following: dotnet ef migrations add MyDbInitialMigration. I think the same should be in VS terminal. — Alexan
– Alexan, Commented Jan 8, 2017 at 19:12

shA.t · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-06 13:14:31Z

81

The correct format to add a new migration is:

dotnet ef migrations add yourMigrationName

and to update database is:

dotnet ef database update

edited Nov 6, 2022 at 13:14

shA.t

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answered Jan 8, 2017 at 19:22

Dronacharya

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8 Comments

GreenyMcDuff Over a year ago

Thank you - found the official documentation that explained this based on your answer.

Matt Welke Over a year ago

Hope you're still around to see this comment... I'm having trouble finding the official docs on the new way to do this with the dotnet CLI. I actually came to this StackOverflow page after Add-Migration didn't work. Mind sharing where you found this in the docs?

Ozkan Over a year ago

For those who want to check the official documentation: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/core/get-started/aspnetcore/…

Zeinab Over a year ago

But for solutions with many projects, how to specify one project to make add migration or update database on it?

Paully Over a year ago

From Terminal window, cd into the project root folder before running the command. A new Migrations folder will appear in that project folder with all the migration artifacts as expected. Here is an updated link to MS docs: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/core/miscellaneous/cli/dotnet

|

David Buck · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-01 05:55:19Z

34

You need to add:

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef

edited Oct 1, 2020 at 5:55

David Buck

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answered Sep 30, 2020 at 21:40

Rafael Almeida

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Comments

Chris Kooken · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-16 03:04:29Z

Im working on Mac, so Ruby is installed by default. My EF commands required lots of extra parameters --project, --startup-project etc. This was a pain to type every time, so I used rake to make this easier.

In my project root, I added a file called rakefile with these contents:

desc "Add Migraion"
task :'add-migration' do
    ARGV.each { |a| task a.to_sym do ; end }  
    puts ARGV[1]
    sh "dotnet ef migrations add " + ARGV[1] + " --project MyProject.Data/MyProject.Data.csproj --startup-project MyProject.Web/MyProject.Web.csproj "
end

desc "Remove Migraion"
task :'remove-migration' do
    ARGV.each { |a| task a.to_sym do ; end }  
    puts ARGV[1]
    sh "dotnet ef migrations remove --project MyProject.Data/MyProject.Data.csproj --startup-project MyProject.Web/MyProject.Web.csproj"
end

desc "Update Database"
task :'update-database' do
    ARGV.each { |a| task a.to_sym do ; end }  
    puts ARGV[1]
    sh "dotnet ef database update --project MyProject.Data/MyProject.Data.csproj --startup-project MyProject.Web/MyProject.Web.csproj"
end

Then at the command line, I run these commands:

rake add-migration <migrationName>
rake remove-migration
rake update-database

shA.t · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-06 13:16:39Z

2

First we need to add reference in *.csproj file in the following way

<ItemGroup>
    <DotNetCliToolReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.DotNet" Version="2.0.2" />  
</ItemGroup>

in Bash/Command prompt
```
dotnet restore
```

after that

dotnet ef migrations add MyDbInitialMigration

edited Nov 6, 2022 at 13:16

shA.t

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answered May 8, 2018 at 18:07

raghu.warrier

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2 Comments

raghu.warrier Over a year ago

Add reference in .csproj file for Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.DotNet

LarsTech Over a year ago

You can use the edit link under your post to make an update.

Gururaj · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-23 15:25:20Z

0

If any one trying to create Migrations from cmd and facing issues like this.

first try to run:

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef --version=(specify)

then try adding migration:

dotnet ef migrations add DbInitialMigration

then update the database:

dotnet ef database update

answered Nov 23, 2023 at 15:25

Gururaj

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