EFCore.Migrations.AutoComments

Automatically applies database comments to tables and columns based on XML documentation. Comments flow from <summary> tags directly into migrations.

Installation

dotnet add package EFCore.Migrations.AutoComments

Prerequisites

Enable XML documentation generation in your project:

<PropertyGroup>
    <GenerateDocumentationFile>true</GenerateDocumentationFile>
</PropertyGroup>

Registration

builder.Services.AddDbContext<AppDbContext>(options =>
    options
        .UseNpgsql(...)
        .UseAutoComments());

XML file path resolution

If no file is specified, XML docs are auto-discovered by assembly name.

// Auto-discover (default)
options.UseAutoComments();

// Single file
options.UseAutoComments("MyApp.xml");

// Multiple files - merges docs from several assemblies
options.UseAutoComments("MyApp.xml", "SharedLibrary.xml");

Example

/// <summary>
/// Represents an animal in the shelter.
/// </summary>
public class Animal
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Unique identifier.
    /// </summary>
    public int Id { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Animal name.
    /// </summary>
    public string Name { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Type of animal.
    /// </summary>
    public AnimalType Type { get; set; }
}

/// <summary>
/// Animal type.
/// </summary>
public enum AnimalType
{
    /// <summary>Dog.</summary>
    Dog,

    /// <summary>Cat.</summary>
    Cat,

    /// <summary>Fish.</summary>
    Fish
}

Generated migration comments:

COMMENT ON TABLE "Animals" IS 'Represents an animal in the shelter.';
COMMENT ON COLUMN "Animals"."Id" IS 'Unique identifier.';
COMMENT ON COLUMN "Animals"."Name" IS 'Animal name.';
COMMENT ON COLUMN "Animals"."Type" IS 'Type of animal.';

Enum descriptions

With options.UseAutoComments(o => o.AddEnumDescriptions()), the Type column comment becomes:

Type of animal.

0 - Dog.
1 - Cat.
2 - Fish.

For string-backed enums, the enum member name is used instead of the numeric value:

Status.

Active - Active account.
Suspended - Temporarily suspended.
Closed - Account closed.

Use [AutoCommentEnumDescription] on a property to enable enum descriptions for that property only, or [IgnoreAutoCommentEnumDescription] to exclude it when global mode is active.

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License

MIT © Andrey Gavrilov 2026

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Migrated from AndreqGav/EF.Toolkits.