A single migration tweak can wipe a production table in a Rails + SQLite stack. The warning from Post 1 is blunt: a mere addforeignkey can wipe out your whole production table [1]. That risk isn’t hypothetical—it's a real-world nudge for small teams racing to ship. It shows how a tiny change can punch above its weight in production.
What happened The incident centers on adding a foreign key and unexpectedly clearing the table in production. This vivid example shows how schema changes bite hard in small stacks [1]. The takeaway is simple: migrations in a Rails + SQLite setup deserve cautious planning rather than spur-of-the-moment tweaks.
Broader debate This fits into ongoing debates about safe migrations in SQLite-backed stacks, a topic that matters to small teams trying to move fast without risking data loss [1]. The conversation also nudges readers to broaden their tooling and testing habits beyond the usual Rails mindset.
Related read A second post, 'Let's Write a Database', adds to the conversation about database design and how practitioners think about building data stores [2]. It reminds readers that questions about core storage decisions aren’t just technical—they shape how teams work.
Bottom line: 2025’s Rails + SQLite migration chatter is loud. For small teams, the lesson is to treat every schema change as potentially disruptive and to keep a close eye on how migrations behave in production [1].
References
A mere add_foreign_key can wipe out your whole Rails+SQLite production table
An article warns that adding a foreign key to Rails with SQLite can unexpectedly wipe production table, stressing schema-change risks.
View sourceLet's Write a Database
Blog post about building a database; discusses design choices and motivation; audience responds with thanks.
View source