Command Line

Global Options

The command line interface is built around a set of subcommands. A global set of options applies to all subcommands, such as database type, username, hostname, etc. Each subcommand may also have its own arguments and options. You can view built-in help with the --help flag.

$ agnostic -h
Usage: agnostic [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Agnostic database migrations: upgrade schemas, save your sanity.

Options:
  -t, --db-type <type>        Type of database.  [required]
  -h, --host <host>           Database hostname.
  -p, --port <port>           Database port.
  -u, --user <user>           Database username.
  --password <pass>           Database password.
  -d, --database <database>   Name of database to operate on.  [required]
  -s, --schema <schema>       The default schema[s] to use when connecting to
                              the database. (PostgreSQL only. WARNING:
                              EXPERIMENTAL!!!)
  -m, --migrations-dir <dir>  Path to migrations directory. (Default:
                              ./migrations)  [required]
  -D, --debug                 Display stack traces when exceptions occur.
  --version                   Show the version and exit.
  --help                      Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  bootstrap  Bootstrap the migrations table.
  drop       Drop the migrations table.
  list       List migrations.
  migrate    Run pending migrations.
  snapshot   Take a snapshot of the current DB structure and write it to...
  test       Test pending migrations.

Most options may either be passed on the command line or exported in the environment. Each database type treats these options differently.

Option MySQL PostgreSQL SQLite
-t --db-type $AGNOSTIC_TYPE Required mysql Required postgres Required sqlite
-h --host $AGNOSTIC_HOST Default localhost Default localhost N/A
-p --port $AGNOSTIC_PORT Default 3306 Default 5342 N/A
-u --user $AGNOSTIC_USER Required Required N/A
--password $AGNOSTIC_PASSWORD Required Required N/A
-d --database $AGNOSTIC_DATABASE Required Required Required [1]
-s --schema $AGNOSTIC_SCHEMA N/A Default "$user",public [2] N/A
-m --migrations-dir $AGNOSTIC_MIGRATIONS_DIR Default migrations Default migrations Default migrations

Notes on options:

[1]In SQLite, the “database” option is the path to the database file.
[2]“Schema” support for PostgreSQL is considered experimental. Please provide feedback if you use this feature and like/dislike it.

Warning

Be careful with passwords!

Passing a password in the --password argument is not safe in multi-user environments because the password will be visible in plaintext, both in your shell history and in the system-wide process list.

We recommend that you type the password. Alternatively, export the AGNOSTIC_PASSWORD variable in your environment, but be wary of the security implications of storing this value in the environment or in a world-readable .profile or .bashrc.

(Lack Of) Configuration

Agnostic prefers convention over configuration, and in order to avoid the need for configuration files, Agnostic takes all of its configurations as command line arguments. This design makes Agnostic easier to learn, but it may result in more typing, since the configuration needs to be passed into Agnostic each time you run it.

If you prefer to use a configuration file, here are two ways to do that.

  1. Set up an alias.
  2. Set up an environment file.

The first idea is obvious to shell power users: set up an alias (e.g. in your ~/.profile or ~/.bash_aliases) for Agnostic, like this:

alias ag=agnostic -h myhost -t postgres -u myuser -d mydb -m /opt/myapp/migrations

Now you can run shorter commands like ag snapshot foo.sql or ag migrate. This approach may be a bit limiting if you have multiple projects and each project has different database settings.

The second approach is a bit more flexible when dealing with multiple projects. Create a file that contains Agnostic environment variables and put it in your project’s root directory. Let’s call it .agnostic_env.

export AGNOSTIC_HOST=myhost
export AGNOSTIC_USER=myuser
export AGNOSTIC_TYPE=postgres
export AGNOSTIC_DATABASE=myapp
export AGNOSTIC_MIGRATIONS_DIR=/opt/myapp/migrations

When you are working on a project, source these environment variables into your shell:

/opt/myapp $ source .agnostic_env

Now you can run commands like agnostic snapshot foo.sql and agnostic migrate and Agnostic will read the parameters from your environment variables. When you switch to work on another project, you just need to source that project’s .agnostic_env.

bootstrap

~ $ agnostic bootstrap --help
Usage: agnostic bootstrap [OPTIONS]

  Bootstrap the migrations table.

  Agnostic stores migration metadata inside of the database that it is
  managing. The bootstrap process creates a table to store this tracking data
  and also (optionally) loads pre-existing migration metadata into it.

Options:
  --load-existing / --no-load-existing
                                  Track existing migrations in the new
                                  migration table.  (default: --load-existing)
  --help                          Show this message and exit.

The bootstrap command creates a table inside the managed schema to track migrations metadata.

load-existing
By default, the bootstrap command loads existing migrations into the metadata table with the special status bootstrapped. This option can be to control that behavior. See Build vs. Migrate for more information.

drop

~ $ agnostic drop --help
Usage: agnostic drop [OPTIONS]

  Drop the migrations table.

  BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE USING THIS COMMAND!

  This destroys all metadata about what migrations have and have not been
  applied. This is typically only useful when debugging.

Options:
  -y, --yes  Do not display warning: assume "yes".
  --help     Show this message and exit.

The drop command has the opposite effect of bootstrap: it deletes the metadata table.

yes
By default, Agnostic requires the user to type y on stdin to confirm that they want to delete this table. This prompt can be skipped by passing the --yes flag.

list

~ $ agnostic list --help
Usage: agnostic list [OPTIONS]

  List migrations.

  This shows migration metadata: migrations that have been applied (and the
  result of that application) and migrations that are pending.

      * bootstrapped: a migration that was inserted during the bootstrap
        process.
      * failed: the migration did not apply cleanly; the migrations system
        will not be able to operate until this is rectified, typically by
        restoring from a backup.
      * pending: the migration has not been applied yet.
      * succeeded: the migration applied cleanly.

  Applied migrations are ordered by the "started_at" timestamp. Pending
  migrations follow applied migrations and are sorted in the same order that
  they would be applied.

Options:
  --help  Show this message and exit.

List all known migrations, both applied and pending. See :ref:metadata for more information.

migrate

~ $ agnostic migrate --help
Usage: agnostic migrate [OPTIONS]

  Run pending migrations.

Options:
  --backup / --no-backup  Automatically backup the database before running
                          migrations, and in the event of a failure,
                          automatically restore from that backup. (default:
                          --backup).
  --help                  Show this message and exit.

Run all pending migrations in the pre-determined order. See :ref:running_migrations for more details on this process.

backup
By default, Agnostic backs up your schema. In the event of a migrations failure, Agnostic will try to restore from this backup. You can disable this behavior, if desired.

snapshot

~ $ agnostic snapshot --help
Usage: agnostic snapshot [OPTIONS] OUTFILE

  Take a snapshot of the current schema and write it to OUTFILE.

  Snapshots are used for testing that migrations will produce a schema that
  exactly matches the schema produced by your build system. See the online
  documentation for more details on how to use this feature.

Options:
  --help  Show this message and exit.

A snapshot is a dump of the current schema, sans data. Snapshots are useful for testing migrations, as detailed in Workflow.

outfile
The name of the file to write the snapshot to.

test

~ $ agnostic test --help
Usage: agnostic test [OPTIONS] CURRENT TARGET

  Test pending migrations.

  Given two snapshots, one of your "current" state and one of your "target"
  state, this command verifies: current + migrations = target.

  If you have a schema build system, this command is useful for verifying
  that your new migrations will produce the exact same schema as the build
  system.

  Note: you may find it useful to set up a database/schema for testing
  separate from the one that you use for development; this allows you to test
  repeatedly without disrupting your development work.

Options:
  -y, --yes  Do not display warning: assume "yes".
  --help     Show this message and exit.
current
A snapshot of the database before the most recent changes.
target
A snapshot of the database after the most recent changes.

The test command verifies that a set of migrations will run without error and will also precisely produce the desired target schema. See Write & Test Migrations for more details.