EF Core tools reference (.NET CLI) - Microsoft Learn

dotnet ef dbcontext scaffold. Generates code for a DbContext and entity types for a database. In order for this command to generate an entity ... Skiptomaincontent Thisbrowserisnolongersupported. UpgradetoMicrosoftEdgetotakeadvantageofthelatestfeatures,securityupdates,andtechnicalsupport. DownloadMicrosoftEdge MoreinfoaboutInternetExplorerandMicrosoftEdge Tableofcontents Exitfocusmode ReadinEnglish Save Tableofcontents ReadinEnglish Save Feedback Edit Print Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email Tableofcontents EntityFrameworkCoretoolsreference-.NETCoreCLI Article 05/11/2022 11minutestoread 9contributors Inthisarticle Thecommand-lineinterface(CLI)toolsforEntityFrameworkCoreperformdesign-timedevelopmenttasks.Forexample,theycreatemigrations,applymigrations,andgeneratecodeforamodelbasedonanexistingdatabase.Thecommandsareanextensiontothecross-platformdotnetcommand,whichispartofthe.NETCoreSDK.Thesetoolsworkwith.NETCoreprojects. WhenusingVisualStudio,considerusingthePackageManagerConsoletoolsinsteadoftheCLItools.PackageManagerConsoletoolsautomatically: WorkswiththecurrentprojectselectedinthePackageManagerConsolewithoutrequiringthatyoumanuallyswitchdirectories. Opensfilesgeneratedbyacommandafterthecommandiscompleted. Providestabcompletionofcommands,parameters,projectnames,contexttypes,andmigrationnames. Installingthetools dotnetefcanbeinstalledaseitheraglobalorlocaltool.Mostdeveloperspreferinstallingdotnetefasaglobaltoolusingthefollowingcommand: dotnettoolinstall--globaldotnet-ef Touseitasalocaltool,restorethedependenciesofaprojectthatdeclaresitasatoolingdependencyusingatoolmanifestfile. Updatethetoolusingthefollowingcommand: dotnettoolupdate--globaldotnet-ef Beforeyoucanusethetoolsonaspecificproject,you'llneedtoaddtheMicrosoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Designpackagetoit. dotnetaddpackageMicrosoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design Verifyinstallation RunthefollowingcommandstoverifythatEFCoreCLItoolsarecorrectlyinstalled: dotnetef Theoutputfromthecommandidentifiestheversionofthetoolsinuse: _/\__ ---==/\\ ______|.\|\ |__||__||)\\\ |_||_|\_/|//|\\ |___||_|/\\\/\\ EntityFrameworkCore.NETCommand-lineTools2.1.3-rtm-32065 Updatethetools Usedotnettoolupdate--globaldotnet-eftoupdatetheglobaltoolstothelatestavailableversion.Ifyouhavethetoolsinstalledlocallyinyourprojectusedotnettoolupdatedotnet-ef.Installaspecificversionbyappending--versiontoyourcommand.SeetheUpdatesectionofthedotnettooldocumentationformoredetails. Usingthetools Beforeusingthetools,youmighthavetocreateastartupprojectorsettheenvironment. Targetprojectandstartupproject Thecommandsrefertoaprojectandastartupproject. Theprojectisalsoknownasthetargetprojectbecauseit'swherethecommandsaddorremovefiles.Bydefault,theprojectinthecurrentdirectoryisthetargetproject.Youcanspecifyadifferentprojectastargetprojectbyusingthe--projectoption. Thestartupprojectistheonethatthetoolsbuildandrun.Thetoolshavetoexecuteapplicationcodeatdesigntimetogetinformationabouttheproject,suchasthedatabaseconnectionstringandtheconfigurationofthemodel.Bydefault,theprojectinthecurrentdirectoryisthestartupproject.Youcanspecifyadifferentprojectasstartupprojectbyusingthe--startup-projectoption. Thestartupprojectandtargetprojectareoftenthesameproject.Atypicalscenariowheretheyareseparateprojectsiswhen: TheEFCorecontextandentityclassesareina.NETCoreclasslibrary. A.NETCoreconsoleapporwebappreferencestheclasslibrary. It'salsopossibletoputmigrationscodeinaclasslibraryseparatefromtheEFCorecontext. Othertargetframeworks TheCLItoolsworkwith.NETCoreprojectsand.NETFrameworkprojects.AppsthathavetheEFCoremodelina.NETStandardclasslibrarymightnothavea.NETCoreor.NETFrameworkproject.Forexample,thisistrueofXamarinandUniversalWindowsPlatformapps.Insuchcases,youcancreatea.NETCoreconsoleappprojectwhoseonlypurposeistoactasstartupprojectforthetools.Theprojectcanbeadummyprojectwithnorealcode—itisonlyneededtoprovideatargetforthetooling. Whyisadummyprojectrequired?Asmentionedearlier,thetoolshavetoexecuteapplicationcodeatdesigntime.Todothat,theyneedtousethe.NETCoreruntime.WhentheEFCoremodelisinaprojectthattargets.NETCoreor.NETFramework,theEFCoretoolsborrowtheruntimefromtheproject.Theycan'tdothatiftheEFCoremodelisina.NETStandardclasslibrary.The.NETStandardisnotanactual.NETimplementation;it'saspecificationofasetofAPIsthat.NETimplementationsmustsupport.Therefore.NETStandardisnotsufficientfortheEFCoretoolstoexecuteapplicationcode.Thedummyprojectyoucreatetouseasstartupprojectprovidesaconcretetargetplatformintowhichthetoolscanloadthe.NETStandardclasslibrary. ASP.NETCoreenvironment TospecifytheenvironmentforASP.NETCoreprojects,settheASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENTenvironmentvariablebeforerunningcommands. StartinginEFCore5.0,additionalargumentscanalsobepassedintoProgram.CreateHostBuilderallowingyoutospecifytheenvironmentonthecommand-line: dotnetefdatabaseupdate----environmentProduction Tip The--tokendirectsdotneteftotreateverythingthatfollowsasanargumentandnottrytoparsethemasoptions.Anyextraargumentsnotusedbydotnetefareforwardedtotheapp. Commonoptions Option Short Description --json ShowJSONoutput. --context -c TheDbContextclasstouse.Classnameonlyorfullyqualifiedwithnamespaces.Ifthisoptionisomitted,EFCorewillfindthecontextclass.Iftherearemultiplecontextclasses,thisoptionisrequired. --project -p Relativepathtotheprojectfolderofthetargetproject.Defaultvalueisthecurrentfolder. --startup-project -s Relativepathtotheprojectfolderofthestartupproject.Defaultvalueisthecurrentfolder. --framework TheTargetFrameworkMonikerforthetargetframework.Usewhentheprojectfilespecifiesmultipletargetframeworks,andyouwanttoselectoneofthem. --configuration Thebuildconfiguration,forexample:DebugorRelease. --runtime Theidentifierofthetargetruntimetorestorepackagesfor.ForalistofRuntimeIdentifiers(RIDs),seetheRIDcatalog. --no-build Don'tbuildtheproject.Intendedtobeusedwhenthebuildisup-to-date. --help -h Showhelpinformation. --verbose -v Showverboseoutput. --no-color Don'tcolorizeoutput. --prefix-output Prefixoutputwithlevel. StartinginEFCore5.0,anyadditionalargumentsarepassedtotheapplication. dotnetefdatabasedrop Deletesthedatabase. Options: Option Short Description --force -f Don'tconfirm. --dry-run Showwhichdatabasewouldbedropped,butdon'tdropit. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. dotnetefdatabaseupdate Updatesthedatabasetothelastmigrationortoaspecifiedmigration. Arguments: Argument Description Thetargetmigration.MigrationsmaybeidentifiedbynameorbyID.Thenumber0isaspecialcasethatmeansbeforethefirstmigrationandcausesallmigrationstobereverted.Ifnomigrationisspecified,thecommanddefaultstothelastmigration. Options: Option Description --connection Theconnectionstringtothedatabase.DefaultstotheonespecifiedinAddDbContextorOnConfiguring.AddedinEFCore5.0. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. Thefollowingexamplesupdatethedatabasetoaspecifiedmigration.ThefirstusesthemigrationnameandthesecondusesthemigrationIDandaspecifiedconnection: dotnetefdatabaseupdateInitialCreate dotnetefdatabaseupdate20180904195021_InitialCreate--connectionyour_connection_string dotnetefdbcontextinfo GetsinformationaboutaDbContexttype. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. dotnetefdbcontextlist ListsavailableDbContexttypes. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. dotnetefdbcontextoptimize GeneratesacompiledversionofthemodelusedbytheDbContext.AddedinEFCore6. SeeCompiledmodelsformoreinformation. Options: Option Short Description --output-dir -o Thedirectorytoputfilesin.Pathsarerelativetotheprojectdirectory. --namespace -n Thenamespacetouseforallgeneratedclasses.DefaultstogeneratedfromtherootnamespaceandtheoutputdirectoryplusCompiledModels. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. ThefollowingexampleusesthedefaultsettingsandworksifthereisonlyoneDbContextintheproject: dotnetefdbcontextoptimize Thefollowingexampleoptimizesthemodelforthecontextwiththespecifiednameandplacesitinaseparatefolderandnamespace: dotnetefdbcontextoptimize-oModels-nBlogModels-cBlogContext dotnetefdbcontextscaffold GeneratescodeforaDbContextandentitytypesforadatabase.Inorderforthiscommandtogenerateanentitytype,thedatabasetablemusthaveaprimarykey. Arguments: Argument Description Theconnectionstringtothedatabase.ForASP.NETCore2.xprojects,thevaluecanbename=.Inthatcasethenamecomesfromtheconfigurationsourcesthataresetupfortheproject. Theprovidertouse.TypicallythisisthenameoftheNuGetpackage,forexample:Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer. Options: Option Short Description --data-annotations -d Useattributestoconfigurethemodel(wherepossible).Ifthisoptionisomitted,onlythefluentAPIisused. --context -c ThenameoftheDbContextclasstogenerate. --context-dir ThedirectorytoputtheDbContextclassfilein.Pathsarerelativetotheprojectdirectory.Namespacesarederivedfromthefoldernames. --context-namespace ThenamespacetouseforthegeneratedDbContextclass.Note:overrides--namespace.AddedinEFCore5.0. --force -f Overwriteexistingfiles. --output-dir -o Thedirectorytoputentityclassfilesin.Pathsarerelativetotheprojectdirectory. --namespace -n Thenamespacetouseforallgeneratedclasses.Defaultstogeneratedfromtherootnamespaceandtheoutputdirectory.AddedinEFCore5.0. --schema... Theschemasoftablestogenerateentitytypesfor.Tospecifymultipleschemas,repeat--schemaforeachone.Ifthisoptionisomitted,allschemasareincluded. --table... -t Thetablestogenerateentitytypesfor.Tospecifymultipletables,repeat-tor--tableforeachone.Ifthisoptionisomitted,alltablesareincluded. --use-database-names Usetableandcolumnnamesexactlyastheyappearinthedatabase.Ifthisoptionisomitted,databasenamesarechangedtomorecloselyconformtoC#namestyleconventions. --no-onconfiguring SuppressesgenerationoftheOnConfiguringmethodinthegeneratedDbContextclass.AddedinEFCore5.0. --no-pluralize Don'tusethepluralizer.AddedinEFCore5.0 Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. ThefollowingexamplescaffoldsallschemasandtablesandputsthenewfilesintheModelsfolder. dotnetefdbcontextscaffold"Server=(localdb)\mssqllocaldb;Database=Blogging;Trusted_Connection=True;"Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer-oModels Thefollowingexamplescaffoldsonlyselectedtablesandcreatesthecontextinaseparatefolderwithaspecifiednameandnamespace: dotnetefdbcontextscaffold"Server=(localdb)\mssqllocaldb;Database=Blogging;Trusted_Connection=True;"Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer-oModels-tBlog-tPost--context-dirContext-cBlogContext--context-namespaceNew.Namespace Thefollowingexamplereadstheconnectionstringfromtheproject'sconfigurationsetusingtheSecretManagertool. dotnetuser-secretssetConnectionStrings:Blogging"DataSource=(localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB;InitialCatalog=Blogging" dotnetefdbcontextscaffoldName=ConnectionStrings:BloggingMicrosoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer ThefollowingexampleskipsscaffoldinganOnConfiguringmethod.ThiscanbeusefulwhenyouwanttoconfiguretheDbContextoutsideoftheclass.Forexample,ASP.NETCoreappstypicallyconfigureitinStartup.ConfigureServices.AddedinEFCore5.0. dotnetefdbcontextscaffold"Server=(localdb)\mssqllocaldb;Database=Blogging;UserId=myUsername;Password=myPassword;"Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer--no-onconfiguring dotnetefdbcontextscript GeneratesaSQLscriptfromtheDbContext.Bypassesanymigrations. Options: Option Short Description --output -o Thefiletowritetheresultto. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. dotnetefmigrationsadd Addsanewmigration. Arguments: Argument Description Thenameofthemigration. Options: Option Short Description --output-dir -o Thedirectoryusetooutputthefiles.Pathsarerelativetothetargetprojectdirectory.Defaultsto"Migrations". --namespace -n Thenamespacetouseforthegeneratedclasses.Defaultstogeneratedfromtheoutputdirectory.AddedinEFCore5.0. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. dotnetefmigrationsbundle Createsanexecutabletoupdatethedatabase. Options: Option Short Description --output -o Thepathofexecutablefiletocreate. --force -f Overwriteexistingfiles. --self-contained Alsobundlethe.NETruntimesoitdoesn'tneedtobeinstalledonthemachine. --target-runtime -r Thetargetruntimetobundlefor. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. dotnetefmigrationslist Listsavailablemigrations. Options: Option Description --connection Theconnectionstringtothedatabase.DefaultstotheonespecifiedinAddDbContextorOnConfiguring.AddedinEFCore5.0. --no-connect Don'tconnecttothedatabase.AddedinEFCore5.0. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. dotnetefmigrationsremove Removesthelastmigration,rollingbackthecodechangesthatweredoneforthelatestmigration. Options: Option Short Description --force -f Revertthelatestmigration,rollingbackbothcodeanddatabasechangesthatweredoneforthelatestmigration.Continuestorollbackonlythecodechangesifanerroroccurswhileconnectingtothedatabase. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. dotnetefmigrationsscript GeneratesaSQLscriptfrommigrations. Arguments: Argument Description Thestartingmigration.MigrationsmaybeidentifiedbynameorbyID.Thenumber0isaspecialcasethatmeansbeforethefirstmigration.Defaultsto0. Theendingmigration.Defaultstothelastmigration. Options: Option Short Description --output -o Thefiletowritethescriptto. --idempotent -i Generateascriptthatcanbeusedonadatabaseatanymigration. --no-transactions Don'tgenerateSQLtransactionstatements.AddedinEFCore5.0. Thecommonoptionsarelistedabove. ThefollowingexamplecreatesascriptfortheInitialCreatemigration: dotnetefmigrationsscript0InitialCreate ThefollowingexamplecreatesascriptforallmigrationsaftertheInitialCreatemigration. dotnetefmigrationsscript20180904195021_InitialCreate Additionalresources Migrations ReverseEngineering Compiledmodels Feedback Submitandviewfeedbackfor Thisproduct Thispage Viewallpagefeedback Inthisarticle