dotnet from command line can do more than just create projects and add packages. It can be used to work with ef core migrations. Lets start by creating a new console app. Run this command: dotnet new console . Add these three packages: dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer Your csproj should now look like this: <Project Sdk= "Microsoft.NET.Sdk" > <PropertyGroup> <OutputType> Exe </OutputType> <TargetFramework> netcoreapp2.2 </TargetFramework> </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <PackageReference Include= "Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore" Version= "2.2.6" /> <PackageReference Include= "Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design" Version= "2.2.6" /> <PackageReference Include= "Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.S...