diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 6e50e7d..3bf4fb0 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -34,6 +34,23 @@ reproducible and retag stops being safe. Covered by `TestRetagRewritesEveryTag`.
 `index.db` at the root of the data directory and re-importing must reproduce
 everything, with nothing lost.
 
+**The index is a cache, so there are no migrations.** `store.Open` applies
+`schema` and nothing else — no `ALTER TABLE`, no version column, no repair of
+an index an older build wrote. Changing the schema costs one line in the
+release note: delete `index.db` and import again. The two directions are not
+symmetric, which is worth knowing before you assume something is broken:
+
+- *Removing* a column leaves an older index still working, carrying the dead
+  column and its data unread.
+- *Adding* one the code reads breaks every command against an older index with
+  `query transactions: SQL logic error: no such column: …` until it is deleted.
+
+That asymmetry holds only because every statement names its columns —
+**no `SELECT *`, and nothing may depend on column order.** Keep it that way.
+Do not reintroduce migration machinery either; if re-parsing ever becomes too
+expensive to ask for, that is a decision to revisit deliberately rather than a
+helper to slip back in.
+
 **Dedupe is by fingerprint**: `sha256(date | amount | normalised description |
 ordinal)`, where the ordinal distinguishes identical lines *within one
 statement*. Two identical purchases on one day both survive; the same line in an
@@ -123,6 +140,11 @@ money --root /tmp/.../demo import          # must report 0 new
 money --root /tmp/.../demo ls --wide
 ```
 
+If you changed the schema, delete that root's `index.db` first. Nothing
+migrates it, so a demo root left over from an earlier build either carries dead
+columns or fails with `no such column`, depending on which way the schema
+moved.
+
 ### Driving the TUI in tests
 
 Prefer feeding `tea.Msg` values to `Model.Update` directly — that is how every
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b7ebb7f..ee5889a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ tagged by glob rules you write.
 
 \* Nothing lives only in the index: it is derived entirely from the statements
 plus rules.toml, so deleting it and re-importing gets you exactly what you had.
+It is a cache and nothing more, which is why it is never migrated — if a new
+build changes its shape, delete it and run `money import` again.
 
 ## Where the data root lives
 
diff --git a/internal/store/store.go b/internal/store/store.go
index 6492f08..68b0c28 100644
--- a/internal/store/store.go
+++ b/internal/store/store.go
@@ -58,74 +58,12 @@ CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_txn_date ON transactions(date);
 CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_txn_account ON transactions(account_id);
 `
 
-// migrations bring an index created by an older build up to date. SQLite
-// errors on a duplicate column, which is how we detect "already applied".
-var migrations = []string{
-	`ALTER TABLE transactions ADD COLUMN type TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT ''`,
-	`ALTER TABLE transactions ADD COLUMN balance_minor INTEGER`,
-}
-
-// dropped are columns an older build created that this one no longer reads.
-// Nothing indexes or constrains them, so they can simply go; leaving them
-// would keep a NOT NULL column alive that no INSERT here ever names.
-var dropped = []string{"counterparty", "rule_transfer", "manual_transfer", "manual_tag"}
-
-// migrate brings an index created by an older build up to date, adding the
-// columns it lacks and removing the ones it should no longer have.
-func migrate(db *sql.DB) error {
-	have, err := columns(db, "transactions")
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	for _, stmt := range migrations {
-		name := addedColumn(stmt)
-		if have[name] {
-			continue
-		}
-		if _, err := db.Exec(stmt); err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("migrate (%s): %w", stmt, err)
-		}
-	}
-	for _, name := range dropped {
-		if !have[name] {
-			continue
-		}
-		stmt := fmt.Sprintf(`ALTER TABLE transactions DROP COLUMN %s`, name)
-		if _, err := db.Exec(stmt); err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("migrate (%s): %w", stmt, err)
-		}
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
-func columns(db *sql.DB, table string) (map[string]bool, error) {
-	rows, err := db.Query(`SELECT name FROM pragma_table_info(?)`, table)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("inspect %s: %w", table, err)
-	}
-	defer rows.Close()
-	out := map[string]bool{}
-	for rows.Next() {
-		var name string
-		if err := rows.Scan(&name); err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		out[name] = true
-	}
-	return out, rows.Err()
-}
-
-// addedColumn pulls the column name out of an ADD COLUMN statement.
-func addedColumn(stmt string) string {
-	_, rest, ok := strings.Cut(stmt, "ADD COLUMN ")
-	if !ok {
-		return ""
-	}
-	name, _, _ := strings.Cut(rest, " ")
-	return name
-}
-
 // Open opens (creating if needed) the index at path.
+//
+// There is no schema migration: the index caches what the statements and
+// rules.toml already say, so a build that changes the schema is answered by
+// deleting index.db and importing again, not by patching the old one in place.
+// Until it is deleted, queries against it fail on the columns it lacks.
 func Open(path string) (*DB, error) {
 	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(path), 0o755); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("create index dir: %w", err)
@@ -138,10 +76,6 @@ func Open(path string) (*DB, error) {
 		sqlDB.Close()
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("apply schema: %w", err)
 	}
-	if err := migrate(sqlDB); err != nil {
-		sqlDB.Close()
-		return nil, err
-	}
 	return &DB{sql: sqlDB}, nil
 }