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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-12T17:15:17+00:00

I was wondering if you can specify the order in which table definitions and

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I was wondering if you can specify the order in which table definitions and data fixtures are loaded using the CLI. My problem is that I have two tables, each having a foreign key constraint pointing to the other, so one of the constraints needs to be added after a record has been added. Or maybe there’s a better way of doing this…I’m no db expert and my head is fuzzy today.

Schema:

CREATE TABLE clients (
  id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
  name VARCHAR(255), address VARCHAR(255), 
  primary_contact_user_id INT  # References a user record in the users table
  ...
);

CREATE TABLE users (
  id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
  username VARCHAR(255),
  client_id INT  # References a client record in the clients table
  ...
);

ALTER TABLE clients 
  ADD CONSTRAINT clients_primary_contact_user_id_users_id 
    FOREIGN KEY (primary_contact_user_id) REFERENCES users(id);

ALTER TABLE users 
  ADD CONSTRAINT users_client_id_clients_id 
    FOREIGN KEY (client_id) REFERENCES clients(id);
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I’m also not a DB expert, but I do spend a lot of time working with them. I believe the circular reference is actually incorrect.

    Regardless of whether DB theory sanctions it or not, you could get one field though a join to another table, so it is an unnecessary circular reference. I’d suggest that you eliminate one and alter any queries to reflect this change.

    Based on a guess, I’d suggest that you eliminate primary_contact_user_id, as that almost sounds like a possible many-to-many relationship where a single item is elected as “primary”…

    If you feel this design is necessary, can you please explain why?

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