diff --git a/services/Directory/AddMigration.md b/services/Directory/AddMigration.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa3f7604f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/Directory/AddMigration.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate --project FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations.csproj --startup-project FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService.csproj
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService.csproj b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService.csproj
index 157f21d17..ae1ecde73 100644
--- a/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService.csproj
+++ b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService.csproj
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@
     </PropertyGroup>
 
     <ItemGroup>
+        <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design" Version="8.0.6">
+            <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
+            <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
+        </PackageReference>
         <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting" Version="8.0.0"/>
     </ItemGroup>
+
+    <ItemGroup>
+        <ProjectReference Include="..\..\FilterLists.ServiceDefaults\FilterLists.ServiceDefaults.csproj"/>
+        <ProjectReference Include="..\FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations\FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations.csproj"/>
+        <ProjectReference Include="..\FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure\FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.csproj"/>
+    </ItemGroup>
 </Project>
diff --git a/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService/Program.cs b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService/Program.cs
index d58815e48..23db377b2 100644
--- a/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService/Program.cs
+++ b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService/Program.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+using FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure;
 using FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.MigrationService;
 
 var builder = Host.CreateApplicationBuilder(args);
+builder.AddInfrastructureForDbMaintenance();
 builder.Services.AddHostedService<Worker>();
 
 var host = builder.Build();
diff --git a/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations.csproj b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations.csproj
index 3a6353295..9239b682c 100644
--- a/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations.csproj
+++ b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations.csproj
@@ -6,4 +6,8 @@
         <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
     </PropertyGroup>
 
+    <ItemGroup>
+        <ProjectReference Include="..\FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure\FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.csproj"/>
+    </ItemGroup>
+
 </Project>
diff --git a/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure/ConfigurationExtensions.cs b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure/ConfigurationExtensions.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d89406738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure/ConfigurationExtensions.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+using FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Persistence.Queries.Context;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
+
+namespace FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure;
+
+public static class ConfigurationExtensions
+{
+    public static void AddInfrastructureForDbMaintenance(this IHostApplicationBuilder builder)
+    {
+        builder.AddSqlServerDbContext<QueryDbContext>("directorydb",
+            settings => { },
+            o => o.UseSqlServer(so => so.MigrationsAssembly("FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure.Migrations"))
+        );
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure/Persistence/SeedExtensions.cs b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure/Persistence/SeedExtensions.cs
index a996d514e..3d1c08a25 100644
--- a/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure/Persistence/SeedExtensions.cs
+++ b/services/Directory/FilterLists.Directory.Infrastructure/Persistence/SeedExtensions.cs
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ public static void HasDataJsonFile<TEntity>(this OwnedNavigationBuilder ownedNav
     private static List<TEntity> Deserialize<TEntity>()
     {
         // uncomment to short-circuit HasData() when adding a migration
-        //return new List<TEntity>();
+        return new List<TEntity>();
 
         var path = Path.Combine("../data", $"{typeof(TEntity).Name}.json");
         if (!File.Exists(path)) return [];