# dbmate Lightweight Database Migration CLI

> dbmate is a standalone, framework-agnostic database migration tool that uses plain SQL files. It supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, ClickHouse, BigQuery, and Spanner, and works with any programming language or framework.

- Skill: `agentskillexchange/dbmate-lightweight-database-migration-cli` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add agentskillexchange/dbmate-lightweight-database-migration-cli`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/agentskillexchange/dbmate-lightweight-database-migration-cli/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector CAUTION)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Data & Analytics
- Author: agentskillexchange (https://skillmd.com/u/agentskillexchange)
- Updated: 2026-09-08
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/agentskillexchange/dbmate-lightweight-database-migration-cli

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# dbmate Lightweight Database Migration CLI

dbmate is a standalone, framework-agnostic database migration tool that uses plain SQL files. It supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, ClickHouse, BigQuery, and Spanner, and works with any programming language or framework.

## Installation

Use the upstream install or setup path that matches your environment:
- npm install --save-dev dbmate
- npx dbmate --help
- brew install dbmate
- Docker images are published to GitHub Container Registry ([ghcr.io/amacneil/dbmate](https://ghcr.io/amacneil/dbmate)).

Requirements and caveats from upstream:
- It is a standalone command line tool that can be used with Go, Node.js, Python, Ruby, PHP, Rust, C++, or any other language or framework you are using to write database-backed applications. This is especially helpful...
- **Docker**
- Remember to set --network=host or see [this comment](https://github.com/amacneil/dbmate/issues/128#issuecomment-615924611) for more tips on using dbmate with docker networking):

Basic usage or getting-started notes:
- [Usage](#usage)
- Migrations are run atomically inside a transaction
- **NPM**

- Source: https://github.com/amacneil/dbmate
- Extracted from upstream docs: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/amacneil/dbmate/HEAD/README.md

## Source

- [Agent Skill Exchange](https://agentskillexchange.com/skills/dbmate-lightweight-database-migration-cli/)