A CI/CD pipeline diagram showing database migrations deployed as a separate stage before application deployment, with idempotent scripts and managed identities.

Stop Running dotnet ef database update in Production

Running migrations on application startup causes race conditions, security risks, and deployment failures in production. This guide shows how to deploy EF Core migrations as a separate CI/CD stage using idempotent scripts, migration bundles, and zero-downtime strategies like the Expand-Contract pattern.

January 20, 2026 · 10 min
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