makemigrations and migrate commands in Django - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What does the makemigrations command do in Django?

It creates new migration files by detecting changes in your models. These files describe how to update the database schema.

beginner

What is the purpose of the migrate command in Django?

It applies the migration files to the database, updating the database schema to match your models.

beginner

Why do you need to run makemigrations before migrate?

Because makemigrations creates the instructions for database changes, and migrate actually applies those changes to the database.

beginner

If you add a new field to a Django model, what commands should you run to update the database?

First run python manage.py makemigrations to create migration files, then run python manage.py migrate to apply changes to the database.

intermediate

What happens if you run migrate without running makemigrations after changing models?

No new migration files exist, so the database won't update. Your changes won't be applied until you create migrations first.

Which command creates migration files in Django?

A runserver

B migrate

C makemigrations

D startapp

makemigrations creates migration files describing database changes.

What does the migrate command do?

A Deletes migration files

B Creates migration files

C Starts the Django server

D Applies migrations to the database

migrate applies the migration files to update the database schema.

If you change a model but forget to run makemigrations, what happens when you run migrate?

A No changes are applied

B Database updates correctly

C Django crashes

D Migration files are created automatically

Without migration files, migrate has nothing to apply.

Which command should you run first after changing models?

A migrate

B makemigrations

C runserver

D collectstatic

You must create migration files first with makemigrations.

What is the main reason Django uses migrations?

A To keep the database schema in sync with models

B To speed up the server

C To create HTML pages

D To manage user sessions

Migrations help keep the database structure matching your code models.

Explain the roles of makemigrations and migrate commands in Django.

Think about how code changes become database changes.

Describe the steps you take after adding a new field to a Django model to update the database.

Focus on the order of commands and their purpose.