Rivet

Rivet is a database migration/change management/versioning tool inspired by Ruby on Rails' Migrations. You write PowerShell migration scripts that describe the changes you want to make to a SQL Server database, e.g. add a table, add a column, drop an index, etc. Rivet applies those scripts to a database, bringing its schema up-to-date.

To get started, download Rivet from the PowerShell gallery:

> Save-Module -Name 'Rivet' -Path '.'

This will save Rivet into a Rivet directory in your current directory. (If you're running PowerShell 4, you'll need to download and install PowerShell Package Management Modules Preview.)

You can also download a ZIP file from the Rivet project's GitHub page. Unzip the file, and drag the Rivet directory where you'd like it.

Next, you'll need to create a rivet.json file that contains a connection string to your database and the path where you want to keep your migration scripts. The simplest configuration file looks like this:

{
    SqlServerName: '.\Rivet',
    DatabasesRoot: 'Databases'
}

With this configuration file, Rivet will connect to the SQL Server at .\Rivet and will look for migration scripts in Databases\DATABASE_NAME\Migrations.

Now you can create your first migration. Run:

> .\Rivet\rivet.ps1 -New -Database DATABASE_NAME -Name 'MyFirstMigration'

Rivet will create a migration at Databases\DATABASE_NAME\Migrations\20170625132040_MyFirstMigration.ps1. The migration's filename has two parts: an ID (e.g. 20170625132040 followed by the migration's name. Rivet uses the ID to track what migrations have been applied to a database.

Open the migration in your favorite PowerShell text editor. We recommend the PowerShell ISE, because of its intellisense and debugging capabilities. (To get Intellisense as you type, import Rivet first: Import-Module '.\Rivet'.)

You'll see two functions: Push-Migration and Pop-Migration. In the Push-Migration function, you'll add Rivet operations that modify your database. In the Pop-Migration function, you'll add operations that reverse/rollback the changes made in Push-Migration.

Let's create a table:

function Push-Migration
{
    Add-Table -Name 'MyFirstTable' -Column {
        int 'id' -Identity
    }
}

function Pop-Migration
{
    Remove-Table -Name 'MyFirstTable'
}

To apply your migration to your database, run rivet.ps1 with its -Push switch:

> .\Rivet\rivet.ps1 -Push

Look in your database and it will contain the MyFirstTable table. By default, pushing migrations pushes them to all your databases. If you only want to push to a single or specific databases, use Rivet's Database parameter:

> .\Rivet\rivet.ps1 -Push -Database 'DATABASE_NAME'

To reverse/rolllback your migration run rivet.ps1 with the Pop switch:

> .\Rivet\rivet.ps1 -Pop

This will pop the newest migration in each database's Migrations directory. (Use the Database parameter to pop the newest migration from specific databases.) Look in your database, and the MyFirstTable database is gone.

Next, let's add another column to our table:

function Push-Migration
{
    Add-Table -Name 'MyFirstTable' -Column {
        int 'id' -Identity
        nvarchar 'name' 50 -NotNull 
    }        
}

You didn't have to modify the Pop-Migration function because it removes the table, so you don't need to remove each column. As you work on your migration, you'll be changing your Push-Migration function to get it just right. You'll have to do a lot of pushing and popping. Rivet has a special Redo switch that does a pop followed by a push:

> .\Rivet\rivet.ps1 -Redo

After you run this command, look in your database and you'll see that the MyFirstTable table now has a name column.

Once your migration is done, commit it to your source control repository. Once you make your migration available to others, it is immutable and should never be changed. Rivet applies migration scripts as an entire unit. It uses each migration's ID to determine if that migration has been applied to a database. If it has been applied, Rivet skips it and moves on to the next migration. So, if you modify a migration after it's public, that change will never get applied anywhere. If you need to change a public migration, create a new migration that makes the changes you need.

Rivet wraps all pushes and pops in a transaction. If any part of a migration fails, the entire transaction is rolled back. Your database will never be left in a state where part of a migration is applied.

To see a full list of operations, run this command:

> Get-Command -Module 'Rivet'

Or, visit the Documentation page at the https://get-rivet.org website.

See the about_Rivet_Configuration topic for details on configuring Rivet in the rivet.json file.

The about_Rivet_Plugins topic explains how to write your own Rivet operations.

Rivet

See Also