Managing database schema changes in .NET From theory to FluentMigrator

If you’ve ever managed a database alongside an evolving application, you’ve likely faced a common issue: your code and your database don't always evolve at the same pace. Over time, the schema version running in production can drift from what you’re using for local development. This only gets worse as more developers join the project, often working on features that require conflicting database changes. Keeping environments in sync while tracking every schema modification is not that easy, and it explains why there are several tools to help you to do so. In this article, we’ll work through a minimalist Web API using a Clean Architecture (or Onion/Hexagonal-like) structure. While our project includes an EF Core DbContext for data access, we will be using FluentMigrator to create and manage migrations in order to keep our database in sync with our code without the typical EF Core migration overhead or raw SQL scripts stored somewhere. Why Bother With Migrations? In the early stages of a p