Database Migration Plan

Write a safe, zero-downtime database migration plan for a schema change. Use when asked to plan a database migration, design a zero-downtime schema change, document an expand/contract migration, produce a rollback procedure for a database change, or coordinate a database schema update with a deployment. Produces a structured migration plan covering migration objectives, backward compatibility analysis, expand/contract phase breakdown, exact SQL, rollback steps per phase, data validation queries, and a deployment runbook.

Install

npx pm-claude-skills add --agent claude   # or codex · cursor · gemini · hermes
# or one-line MCP (every skill, any client):
claude mcp add pm-skills -- npx -y pm-claude-skills-mcp

What to give it

• Current schema state — the DDL or description of the table(s) as they are now
• Target schema state — the DDL or description of what the table(s) should look like after migration
• Migration reason — why this change is being made (new feature, performance fix, normalization, compliance)
• Database engine — PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, CockroachDB, etc.
• Estimated data volume — approximate number of rows in affected tables
• Deployment constraints — is any downtime allowed? What is the expected traffic level during migration? Are there multiple app instances running?
• Rollback window — how long after deploy can the team roll back before the migration becomes irreversible?

Related skills