Closes P1 #11 of .convoys/ship-readiness.md (launch sequence step 7) —
"No migration tool — scripts/add-*.js graveyard". Schema changes
post-this-convoy ship as node-pg-migrate migrations under migrations/
at the repo root; the legacy 27 scripts/add-*.js / scripts/fix-*.js /
scripts/seed-*.js jobs remain append-only history per the no-go-zones
rule.
Decisions (full record in .convoys/migration-tool.md § Decisions):
D1 — Tool: node-pg-migrate@^8. Rejected drizzle-kit / prisma migrate /
kysely because each forces broader TypeScript surface than AGENTS.md
Gotcha #9 allows (TS is a devDep only). node-pg-migrate is
JavaScript-native, raw-SQL-friendly via pgm.sql(), and ESM-clean for
the post-bump-next-js "type": "module" repo. Brings pg@^8.21.0 as a
peer dep (dev-only; never loaded in the Next.js bundle).
D2 — Migrations directory: migrations/ at the repo root. Separates
the tool-wrapped artifacts from the historical scripts/migrations/
placeholder folder (which housed the lone pre-tool
2026-05-24-rename-admin-email.js migration and remains preserved for
the audit trail). Matches node-pg-migrate's default flag.
D3 — Tracking table: default pgmigrations (no name collision with
the existing 7-table bootstrap; zero CLI noise).
D4 — Backfill strategy: hand-translate scripts/setup-neon-db.js's
DDL into the initial migration verbatim. Each await sql`...` block
becomes one pgm.sql(`...`) call. Each CREATE uses IF NOT EXISTS, so
the migration is idempotent against fresh AND pre-existing envs —
re-running setup-db on an env that already has the schema is a no-op
DDL-wise (only records the pgmigrations row). Documented assumption:
prod has drifted via the 27 historical add-*.js scripts; reconciling
those into the migration history is the queued
reconcile-historical-add-scripts follow-up convoy.
D5 — Bootstrap reconciliation: split. setup-neon-db.js now (1)
validates ADMIN_INITIAL_PASSWORD + POSTGRES_URL, (2) spawns
`npm run migrate up` via child_process with stdio inherited, (3)
seeds the admin row with ON CONFLICT (email) DO NOTHING. The seven
DDL blocks are deleted from setup-neon-db.js; success/error message
copy is updated to mention the migration step explicitly.
D6 — CI integration: defer. Wiring a CI job that runs migrate up
against a test DB needs either a dedicated Neon branch + secret OR a
Postgres service container; both are real work. Surface as
wire-migrate-into-ci follow-up. Risk acknowledged in
.convoys/migration-tool.md § R3.
D7 — Down-migration on the initial backfill: hard stub. Rolling back
the initial schema would drop every user / card / collection / deck
row in the DB. The stub throws with a long-form error pointing at
the recommended alternative (branch the Neon database + forward-apply).
Future migrations that touch one of the seven bootstrap tables write
their own dated migration with a real down().
Verification (pre-PR):
- npm run lint → 128 problems (baseline preserved, zero regression;
migration file is lint-clean, no new ignore patterns)
- npm run test:run → 21/21 pass
- node --check on migrations/1779853647564_initial-schema.js + on
scripts/setup-neon-db.js → exit 0
- Module load + down() throw verified via dynamic import
- npm run migrate -- --help reaches the node-pg-migrate CLI through
the wrapper
Live verification against a Neon branch is deferred (no throwaway
branch available); the operator's optional post-merge sequence is
documented in .convoys/migration-tool.md § Operator runbook.
See .convoys/migration-tool.md § Follow-ups for the queued
wire-migrate-into-ci / reconcile-historical-add-scripts /
retire-graveyard-scripts-after-audit / audit-node-pg-migrate-transitive-deps
/ add-migration-template follow-up convoys.
Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
