[Feature Request] Allow non-interactive mode for payload migrate:create to support CI/CD and hand-written migrations

[joshuatza]

Description

When writing hand-written/manual migrations (for data transformations, complex schema changes, etc.), there's no way to generate the corresponding JSON schema snapshot without running the interactive payload migrate:create command.

This causes problems because:

1. Without the JSON file, Payload doesn't know the schema state after the migration
2. The next migrate:create will try to re-create the same schema changes (duplicate columns, tables, etc.)
3. The interactive prompts make it impossible to automate in CI/CD pipelines

Current Behavior

payload migrate:create is always interactive, prompting for each table change:

Is estates_status_tracking table created or renamed from another table?
❯ + estates_status_tracking                                     create table
  ~ estates_status_history › estates_status_tracking            rename table
  ~ _estates_v_version_status_history › estates_status_tracking rename table
  ~ locations › estates_status_tracking                         rename table

Expected Behavior

Provide one or more of these options:

1. --non-interactive flag: Auto-select default options (create table vs rename)
2. --json-only flag: Generate only the JSON schema snapshot without the TypeScript migration file
3. --from-migration <name> flag: Generate JSON snapshot based on the schema state after a specific migration runs

Use Case

We have hand-written migrations for complex data transformations:

// 20251216_status_sub_status_refactor.ts
export async function up({ db }: MigrateUpArgs): Promise<void> {
  // Create new table
  await db.execute(sql`CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "estate_sub_statuses" ...`)
  
  // Migrate data from old model to new model
  await db.execute(sql`INSERT INTO "estate_sub_statuses" SELECT ... FROM "estate_statuses" WHERE parent_id IS NOT NULL`)
  
  // Clean up old data
  await db.execute(sql`DELETE FROM "estate_statuses" WHERE parent_id IS NOT NULL`)
}

This migration has no JSON file because it was hand-written. Now when we run migrate:create, it wants to re-create estate_sub_statuses because Payload doesn't know it already exists.

Environment

• Payload version: 3.x
• Database: PostgreSQL via @payloadcms/db-postgres

Possible Solutions

1. Add --yes or --non-interactive flag to accept defaults
2. Add command to generate JSON snapshot only: payload migrate:snapshot
3. Add ability to generate JSON from current database state: payload migrate:sync
4. Document the JSON file format so developers can manually create them for hand-written migrations

[LefterisXefteris]

Hello @joshuatza, can i give it a try?

[joshuatza]

Yes you can what do you need

[LefterisXefteris]

Thanks! I'll take a look at the codebase and come back if I have questions. I'm thinking the --non-interactive flag is the cleanest solution - does that work for you?

[LefterisXefteris]

Hello there, i created a PR. im happy to fix mongo, and any other integration, as well as the rest of the of the commands.

[muhammadshahzad89]

Is there non-interactive flag for npx payload:migrate? I am trying to run the migration on CI but its interactive mode sometimes and leaves the build ultimately to fail.

[jhb-dev]

There is a new PR opened by the Payload team that may be related to this feature request: #15285

[paulpopus]

^ that one is slightly different, I'll convert this to a feature request and put it on the backlog