The code will work without exception but it doesn’t set correct association, because the defined classes are under namespace AddStatusToUser. This is what happens in reality: role = AddStatusToUser::Role.create!(name: 'admin') AddStatusToUser::User.create!(nick: '@ka8725', role: role)

There are three keys to backfilling safely: batching, throttling, and running it outside a transaction. Use the Rails console or a separate migration with disable_ddl_transaction!.

Active Record creates a transaction around each migration, and backfilling in the same transaction that alters a table keeps the table locked for the duration of the backfill. class AddSomeColumnToUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.0] def change add_column :users, :some_column, :text User.update_all some_column: "default_value" end end