hasura/graphql-engine · error

cannot create migrate instance: %w

Error message

cannot create migrate instance: %w

What it means

`hasura migrate create` builds a migrate.Migrate driver instance when SQL-related flags (--sql-server, --up/sql-file, etc.) are set. This wraps any failure of migrate.NewMigrate, which validates config, server connectivity, and source support.

Source

Thrown at cli/commands/migrate_create.go:227

}

func (o *migrateCreateOptions) run() (version int64, err error) {
	var op herrors.Op = "migrate.migrateCreateOptions.run"

	timestamp := getTime()
	createOptions := mig.New(timestamp, o.name, filepath.Join(o.EC.MigrationDir, o.Source.Name))

	if o.fromServer {
		o.sqlServer = true
	}

	var migrateDrv *migrate.Migrate
	// disabling auto state migrations for migrate create command
	o.EC.DisableAutoStateMigration = true
	if o.sqlServer || o.upSQLChanged || o.downSQLChanged {
		migrateDrv, err = migrate.NewMigrate(o.EC, true, o.Source.Name, o.Source.Kind)
		if err != nil {
			return 0, herrors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("cannot create migrate instance: %w", err))
		}
	}

	if o.sqlFile != "" {
		// sql-file flag is set
		err := createOptions.SetSQLUpFromFile(o.sqlFile)
		if err != nil {
			return 0, herrors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("cannot set sql file: %w", err))
		}
	}

	if o.sqlServer {
		data, err := migrateDrv.ExportSchemaDump(
			o.includeSchemas,
			o.excludeSchemas,
			o.Source.Name,
			o.Source.Kind,
		)

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. Confirm server endpoint/admin secret and that the database exists (hasura migrate status)
2. Verify the database kind supports migrations (see errors 101/102)
3. Fix or regenerate config.yaml (hasura init) if the config version/state is broken

hasura migrate status --database-name "$DB" >/dev/null || echo "cannot init migrate driver"

When it happens

Trigger: `hasura migrate create ... --sql-server` against an unreachable server, unsupported source kind, or when config v3 setup cannot resolve the named database.

Common situations: Creating server-based SQL migrations while the local dev server is down; --database-name pointing to a non-existent source; old config.yaml version.

Related errors

• pulling latest actions codegen files from internet failed: %
• unable to fetch introspection schema: %w
• error getting actions file content: %w
• error generating codegen for action %s: %w
• error in fetching introspection schema: %w

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5f02d53fa91fbc70. Report an issue: GitHub.