Seeds

Seeds populate the database with initial or test data. They are useful for setting up development environments, running demos, or bootstrapping default records.

Seed Files

Seed files are placed in the seeds/ directory at the root of your project. File names must follow the pattern NNN*.js (numeric prefix):

seeds/
├── 001_users.js
├── 002_projects.js
└── 003_tasks.js

Files are executed in alphabetical order, so use numeric prefixes to control the sequence.

Writing Seeds

Each seed file exports an async function:

// seeds/001_users.js
const User = require('../app/models/User');

module.exports = async () => {
  await User.create({ email: 'admin@example.com', first_name: 'Admin' });
  await User.create({ email: 'user@example.com', first_name: 'User' });
};

You can use any model method available in the ORM — create, update, query, etc.

CLI Commands

# Run all seed files
npx igo db seed

# Reset database and run seeds
npx igo db reseed

The reseed command first runs db reset (which drops and recreates all tables via migrations), then runs all seeds.

WARNING

Seeds cannot be run in production (NODE_ENV=production).

npm Script

You can add a shortcut in your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "db:seed": "igo db seed",
    "db:reseed": "igo db reseed"
  }
}