hasura/graphql-engine · error

error creating migration files: %w

Error message

error creating migration files: %w

What it means

Final step of `hasura migrate create`: createOptions.Create() writes the migration files (up.sql/down.sql) into migrations/<name>/. This wraps filesystem errors during that write, after the spinner is stopped.

Source

Thrown at cli/commands/migrate_create.go:302

		}

		if !o.downSQLChanged {
			createOptions.SQLDown = []byte(``)
		}
	}

	defer func() {
		if err != nil {
			err := createOptions.Delete()
			if err != nil {
				o.EC.Logger.Warnf("cannot delete dangling migrations: %v", err)
			}
		}
	}()

	err = createOptions.Create()
	if err != nil {
		return 0, herrors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error creating migration files: %w", err))
	}

	o.EC.Spinner.Stop()
	o.EC.Logger.Infof("Created Migrations")

	if o.fromServer {
		opts := &MigrateApplyOptions{
			EC:               o.EC,
			SkipExecution:    true,
			VersionMigration: strconv.FormatInt(timestamp, 10),
			Source:           o.Source,
		}

		err := opts.Run()
		if err != nil {
			o.EC.Logger.Warnf("cannot mark created migration %d as applied: %v", timestamp, err)
			o.EC.Logger.Warnf(
				"manually mark it as applied using command:  hasura migrate apply --skip-execution --version %d",

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. Ensure migrations/<database>/ exists and is writable: mkdir -p migrations/<name> && chmod u+w migrations/<name>
2. Run from a writable clone/checkout
3. Freeze check: df -h if disk is full; remove half-written migration dirs from the failed attempt

mkdir -p "migrations/$DB" && test -w "migrations/$DB" || { echo 'migrations dir not writable'; exit 1; }

When it happens

Trigger: migrations directory or migrations/<source>/ is read-only, missing, or a name collision occurs; disk full; permission denied.

Common situations: Running in CI with a read-only checkout; directory removed manually; ownership issues after cloning as another user.

Related errors

• error generating codegen for action %s: %w
• error in fetching codegen frameworks: %w
• error in copying starter kit: %w
• error in writing config: %w
• unable to create directory: %w

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/65da4f6db2847b41. Report an issue: GitHub.