Why should you care?

ShopNest schema evolves in pull requests alongside API code — reviewers see Category and Product changes in Git, not mystery SSMS edits.

See it live — copy this example

Paste into a .NET project with EF Core packages, then run with LocalDB/SQL Server (dotnet ef / dotnet run).

public class Category
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; } = "";
    public ICollection<Product> Products { get; set; } = new List<Product>();
}

// Next: dotnet ef migrations add AddCategories

What happened?

• Category defines columns by convention (Id key, Name string).
• ICollection signals a one-to-many relationship EF will map with CategoryId FK on Product.

Practice next

1. Add Category to ShopNest.Domain and link Product.CategoryId + navigation.
2. Build the solution before running migrations add.
3. Compare Code First to database-first — list one advantage of each for your team.
4. Add a Slug string to Category and preview migration SQL before apply.
5. Remove a property and observe how the next migration drops a column.

Remember

Code First drives schema from C# types. Migrations version every schema change. Model and app code stay in sync in Git.

ShopNest schema in PR review

Developer adds Category entity and commits InitialShopNest migration for team review.

Outcome: DBA signs off on Up() SQL before dotnet ef database update hits shared dev SQL.