EntityFrameworkCore: How to initialize a Database and seed it the first time user uses an application

Rowan Miller says that ApplyMigrations is enough to create database (if not exist) and apply all (nesessary) migrations.

Create method like this:

public void CreateDbAndSampleData(IServiceProvider applicationServices)
{
    using (var serviceScope = applicationServices.GetRequiredService<IServiceScopeFactory>().CreateScope())
    {
        using (var db = serviceProvider.GetService<ApplicationDbContext>()) 
        {
            // This will [try to] create database
            // and apply all necessary migrations
            db.Database.AsRelational().ApplyMigrations();

            // then you can check for existing data and modify something
            var admin = db.Users.Where(x => x.Name == "Superadmin").FirstOrDefault();
            if (admin == null)
            {
                db.Users.Add(new User {...});
                db.SaveChanges();
            }
        }
    }
}

And call it from your Startup.cs, at end of Configure method:

CreateDbAndSampleData(app.ApplicationServices);

This code will run on every app startup, so you need to be accurate and do not overwrite any non-critical data changes (like changing Users's comment etc)

You can use MusicStore app as a sample: Startup.cs and SampleData.cs