migronaut down

Roll back migrations — the last batch, a specific batch, the last N, or a single file.

migronaut down [file] [options]

Usage

migronaut down                 # roll back the last batch
migronaut down <file>          # roll back a single migration by filename
migronaut down --batch <n>     # roll back every migration in batch n
migronaut down --steps <n>     # roll back the last N migrations, newest first
migronaut down --to <file>     # roll back everything applied after that file

How it works

With no argument, migronaut down reverts the most recent batch — every migration that shares the highest batch number — by calling each file's down() in reverse order.

↩ Reverted 20260605120500-backfill-status.js     [54ms]
↩ Reverted 20260605120000-add-users-index.js     [21ms]

History is never deleted: each reverted record has its status set to reverted and a revertedAt timestamp, preserving the full audit trail.

Options

Option	Description
[file]	Revert only this migration file.
--batch <n>	Revert every migration in batch number n.
--steps <n>	Revert the last N applied migrations, newest first, ignoring batch grouping.
--to <file>	Revert everything applied after this file. The named file stays applied.
--no-lock	Skip the concurrency lock. Dev only.
--json	Emit the run results as a JSON array on stdout.

Plus the global flags.

Mutually exclusive

--steps, --batch, --to and a [file] are four different ways of choosing the same thing, so none of them combine. Doing so exits with a validation error before connecting to the database.

--steps — Laravel-style rollback

--steps <n> reverts the last n applied migrations as individual files, newest first (ordered by appliedAt), regardless of which batch they belong to:

migronaut down --steps 2   # undo the two most recently applied migrations

This differs from the default (revert the whole last batch) and from --batch <n> (revert one specific batch).

--to — roll back to a point in the sequence

--to <file> reverts every migration applied after the named one, newest first. The named file itself stays applied — you're rolling the database back to that point, not past it:

migronaut down --to 20260605120500-backfill-status.js

This is the exact inverse of migronaut up --to: up --to X followed by down --to X returns the database to the same state. That symmetry is why the bound is exclusive.

The target must currently be applied — otherwise there's no point to roll back to, and the command exits with NotAppliedError (code 9) before touching anything.

Forward-only / imported migrations

Migrations adopted via migronaut import are tagged origin: 'migrate-mongo' and are not reversible. migronaut down preflights this and throws IrreversibleMigrationError before touching anything, so the collection is never left half-reverted.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	The targeted migrations were reverted (or there was nothing to revert).
3	Another process holds the migration lock.
6	Invalid flags — e.g. a non-integer --batch, or two target selectors at once.
7	A down() threw. The rollback stops at the first error.
9	The target isn't applied (NotAppliedError).
13	The target was imported from migrate-mongo and is forward-only.

See the full exit-code table for the rest.