Sequelize: Changing model schema on production

Question

We're using the orm sequelize.js and have defined a model as such:

module.exports = function(sequelize, DataTypes) {
    var Source = sequelize.define('Source', {
        name: {
            type: DataTypes.STRING, 
            allowNull: false, 
            unique: true
        }
    }, {
        paranoid: true
    });

    return Source;
};

This is deployed to production and sync'd to the database using sequelize.sync. Next step, we add a parameter:

module.exports = function(sequelize, DataTypes) {
    var Source = sequelize.define('Source', {
        name: {
            type: DataTypes.STRING, 
            allowNull: false, 
            unique: true
        }, 
            location: {
                    type: DataTypes.STRING
            }
    }, {
        paranoid: true
    });

    return Source;
};

However, when deploying to production sequelize.sync does not add this new parameter. This is because sync does a:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS

And does not actually update the schema if the table exists. This is noted in their documentation.

The only option seems to be to { force: true }, however this is not okay for a production database.

Does anyone know how to properly update the schema when changes are necessary?

Answer 1

You want to implement Sequelize migrations:

http://docs.sequelizejs.com/manual/tutorial/migrations.html

These will enable you to transition developer, staging, and production databases between known states.