cloudthinker-ai Database Migration Checklist Skill
Execute a safe database migration from {{ source_db }} to {{ target_db }} ({{ migration_type }}).
Workflow
Step 1 — Migration Assessment
MIGRATION SCOPE
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Source: {{ source_db }}
Target: {{ target_db }}
Type: {{ migration_type }}
[ ] Database size documented: ___ GB
[ ] Number of tables/collections: ___
[ ] Active connections (peak): ___
[ ] Write throughput (peak): ___ ops/sec
[ ] Estimated migration duration: ___
[ ] Maintenance window required: YES / NO
[ ] Zero-downtime migration possible: YES / NO
Step 2 — Pre-Migration Checklist
PRE-MIGRATION
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BACKUP & RECOVERY
[ ] Full backup taken and verified (test restore)
[ ] Point-in-time recovery confirmed working
[ ] Backup stored in separate region/account
[ ] Backup retention extended for migration window
COMPATIBILITY
[ ] Schema compatibility verified on target
[ ] Data type compatibility checked (edge cases: dates, JSON, arrays)
[ ] Character encoding confirmed (UTF-8 consistency)
[ ] Stored procedures / functions compatible with target
[ ] Views and materialized views compatible
[ ] Triggers and constraints reviewed
[ ] Extensions / plugins available on target
[ ] Application ORM compatibility tested
TESTING
[ ] Migration script tested on staging with production-size data
[ ] Application tested against target database version
[ ] Performance benchmarks captured on staging
[ ] Query plan analysis on critical queries (no regressions)
[ ] Connection string changes tested in application config
Step 3 — Migration Execution Plan
EXECUTION PLAN
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T-24h:
[ ] Final staging test pass confirmed
[ ] Notify stakeholders of migration window
[ ] Verify monitoring dashboards ready
[ ] Pre-create target database infrastructure
T-1h:
[ ] Take fresh backup of source database
[ ] Verify backup integrity
[ ] Reduce application traffic (if applicable)
[ ] Pause non-critical batch jobs and crons
T-0 (Migration Start):
[ ] Enable maintenance mode (if downtime required)
[ ] Stop writes to source (if not live migration)
[ ] Record current WAL/binlog position
[ ] Execute migration script / start replication
[ ] Monitor migration progress
During Migration:
[ ] Track replication lag (if live migration)
[ ] Monitor source database load
[ ] Monitor target database health
[ ] Log any errors or warnings
Step 4 — Data Validation
DATA VALIDATION
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[ ] Row counts match: source vs target (per table)
[ ] Checksum validation on critical tables
[ ] Spot-check recent records (last 1000 rows)
[ ] Verify auto-increment / sequence values
[ ] Validate foreign key relationships intact
[ ] Check indexes exist and are valid on target
[ ] Verify constraints (unique, check, not-null) on target
[ ] Test critical queries return identical results
[ ] Verify data in special columns (JSON, arrays, bytea)
Step 5 — Cutover
CUTOVER STEPS
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[ ] Final replication caught up (lag = 0)
[ ] Stop writes to source database
[ ] Verify final data consistency
[ ] Update application connection strings to target
[ ] Deploy application with new connection config
[ ] Verify application health checks pass
[ ] Verify read and write operations work
[ ] Disable maintenance mode
[ ] Monitor error rates for 30 minutes
Step 6 — Rollback Procedure
ROLLBACK PLAN
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Rollback window: [X hours after cutover]
Rollback trigger: [error rate >X%, latency >Xms, data corruption]
Steps:
1. [ ] Revert application connection strings to source
2. [ ] Deploy application with original config
3. [ ] Verify source database is current (apply delta if needed)
4. [ ] Confirm application healthy against source
5. [ ] Investigate failure cause before retry
6. [ ] Document what went wrong
Step 7 — Post-Migration
POST-MIGRATION
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Immediate (0-24h):
[ ] Monitor query performance (no regressions)
[ ] Monitor connection pool utilization
[ ] Monitor replication (if applicable)
[ ] Verify backup schedule running on target
[ ] Verify monitoring alerts configured for target
Short-term (1-7 days):
[ ] Decommission source database (after safe period)
[ ] Update documentation and runbooks
[ ] Update infrastructure-as-code
[ ] Remove old connection strings and credentials
[ ] Close migration tracking ticket
Counter-Rationalizations
| Shortcut | Counter | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "We can skip some steps for this case" | Adapt the workflow steps, don't skip them | Skipped steps are where incidents and oversights originate |
| "The user seems to already know what to do" | Complete all workflow phases with the user | The workflow catches blind spots that experience alone misses |
| "This is a minor case, full process is overkill" | Scale the process down, don't turn it off | Minor cases become major when unstructured; the process scales, not disappears |
| "I'll fill in the details later" | Complete each section before moving on | Deferred details are forgotten; real-time capture is more accurate |
| "The template output isn't necessary" | Always produce the structured output format | Structured output enables comparison, audit trails, and handoff to other teams |
Output Format
Produce a migration execution report with:
- Migration summary (source, target, type, size, duration)
- Pre-migration checklist results with PASS/FAIL
- Execution log with timestamps for each step
- Data validation results with row counts and checksums
- Post-migration monitoring observations
- Issues encountered and resolutions