Auto-apply migrations/metadata when the server starts¶

cli-migrations image¶

Hasura ships a special Docker image which can be used to automatically apply migrations/metadata when the server starts:

hasura/graphql-engine:<version>.cli-migrations-v3

This container image includes the Hasura CLI at /bin/hasura-cli and can be used for running any other CI/CD scripts in your workflow.

Applying migrations¶

The migrations and metadata directories created by the Hasura CLI in a Hasura project can be mounted at the /hasura-migrations and /hasura-metadata path of this Docker container and the container’s entry point script will apply the migrations and metadata before starting the server. If no directory is mounted at the designated paths, the server will start ignoring the migrations and/or metadata.

If you want to mount the migrations/metadata directories at some location other than the above, set the following environment variables:

HASURA_GRAPHQL_MIGRATIONS_DIR=/custom-path-for-migrations
HASURA_GRAPHQL_METADATA_DIR=/custom-path-for-metadata

Once the migrations and metadata are applied, the container resumes operation as a normal Hasura GraphQL engine server.

Example:

# Start Hasura after applying the migrations and metadata present in the Hasura project
docker run -p 8080:8080 \
       -v /home/me/my-project/migrations:/hasura-migrations \
       -v /home/me/my-project/metadata:/hasura-metadata \
       -e HASURA_GRAPHQL_DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:@postgres:5432/postgres \
       hasura/graphql-engine:<version>.cli-migrations-v3

Applying only metadata¶

If you’re managing migrations with a different tool and want to use this image to apply only the metadata, mount the metadata directory of your Hasura project at the /hasura-metadata path of this Docker container the container’s entry point script will apply the metadata before starting the server.