enum-value-used-in-same-transaction

Reports a new enum value that is used in the same transaction that adds it, which PostgreSQL rejects.

Category	Default severity	Databases
locking	error	PostgreSQL

What happens

Since PostgreSQL 12, ALTER TYPE ... ADD VALUE can run inside a transaction, but the new value cannot be used until that transaction commits. Using it earlier fails: ERROR: unsafe use of new value "archived" of enum type order_status_enum, and the migration stops there.

TypeORM 1.x generates ADD VALUE when you add a value to an enum column. Setting the new value as the column's default, or updating rows to it, in the same migration then fails, because the migration runs in a transaction. Several statements in one query() call also share one implicit transaction.

orm-preflight looks for the value's string literal, such as 'archived', in the statements that follow in the same transaction. With migrationsTransactionMode: "all", every pending migration shares one transaction, so a later migration that uses the value fails too; orm-preflight checks each migration on its own and does not report that case.

Bad

import { MigrationInterface, QueryRunner } from 'typeorm'

export class AddArchivedStatus1727200000000 implements MigrationInterface {
  public async up(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
    await queryRunner.query(`ALTER TYPE "public"."order_status_enum" ADD VALUE 'archived'`)
    await queryRunner.query(`ALTER TABLE "orders" ALTER COLUMN "status" SET DEFAULT 'archived'`)
  }

  public async down(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
    // ...
  }
}

Safe

Add the value in one migration:

import { MigrationInterface, QueryRunner } from 'typeorm'

export class AddArchivedStatus1727200000000 implements MigrationInterface {
  public async up(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
    await queryRunner.query(`ALTER TYPE "public"."order_status_enum" ADD VALUE 'archived'`)
  }

  public async down(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
    // ...
  }
}

and use it in a later one:

import { MigrationInterface, QueryRunner } from 'typeorm'

export class DefaultArchivedStatus1727300000000 implements MigrationInterface {
  public async up(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
    await queryRunner.query(`ALTER TABLE "orders" ALTER COLUMN "status" SET DEFAULT 'archived'`)
  }

  public async down(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
    // ...
  }
}

With migrationsTransactionMode: "each", each migration commits before the next one starts. In orm-preflight.config.json:

{ "typeorm": { "transactionMode": "each" } }

When to suppress

When the literal only looks like the value, for example the same text in an unrelated column.

// preflight safety-assured enum-value-used-in-same-transaction -- 'archived' here is a plain text column

References

• PostgreSQL: ALTER TYPE, notes ("If ALTER TYPE ... ADD VALUE (the form that adds a new value to an enum type) is executed inside a transaction block, the new value cannot be used until after the transaction has been committed.")
• PostgreSQL: multiple statements in a simple query
• orm-preflight lock verification results