diff --git a/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Configuration/DatabaseConfiguration.cs b/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Configuration/DatabaseConfiguration.cs
index cba1b03672..a02f70256e 100644
--- a/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Configuration/DatabaseConfiguration.cs
+++ b/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Configuration/DatabaseConfiguration.cs
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Host.Configuration
 		/// </summary>
 		public bool DropDatabase { get; set; }
 
+		/// <summary>
+		/// Used to indicate that the database is being loaded to generate migrations. Should not be used in production!
+		/// </summary>
+		public bool DesignTime { get; set; }
+
 		/// <summary>
 		/// The <see cref="string"/> form of the <see cref="global::System.Version"/> of a target MySQL/MariaDB server
 		/// </summary>
diff --git a/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Database/Design/DesignTimeDbContextFactoryHelpers.cs b/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Database/Design/DesignTimeDbContextFactoryHelpers.cs
index 5071d72ccf..68fae14333 100644
--- a/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Database/Design/DesignTimeDbContextFactoryHelpers.cs
+++ b/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Database/Design/DesignTimeDbContextFactoryHelpers.cs
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Host.Database.Design
 			builder.AddJsonFile(RootJson);
 			builder.AddJsonFile(DevJson);
 			var configuration = builder.Build();
-			return Options.Create(configuration.GetSection(DatabaseConfiguration.Section).Get<DatabaseConfiguration>());
+			var dbConfig = configuration.GetSection(DatabaseConfiguration.Section).Get<DatabaseConfiguration>();
+			dbConfig.DesignTime = true;
+			return Options.Create(dbConfig);
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Database/SqliteDatabaseContext.cs b/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Database/SqliteDatabaseContext.cs
index 8be3c8eea8..2e71317a65 100644
--- a/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Database/SqliteDatabaseContext.cs
+++ b/src/Tgstation.Server.Host/Database/SqliteDatabaseContext.cs
@@ -43,18 +43,19 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Host.Database
 			// use the DateTimeOffsetToBinaryConverter
 			// Based on: https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFrameworkCore/issues/10784#issuecomment-415769754
 			// This only supports millisecond precision, but should be sufficient for most use cases.
-			foreach (var entityType in modelBuilder.Model.GetEntityTypes())
-			{
-				var properties = entityType
-					.ClrType
-					.GetProperties()
-					.Where(p => p.PropertyType == typeof(DateTimeOffset) || p.PropertyType == typeof(DateTimeOffset?));
-				foreach (var property in properties)
-					modelBuilder
-						.Entity(entityType.Name)
-						.Property(property.Name)
-						.HasConversion(new DateTimeOffsetToBinaryConverter());
-			}
+			if (!DatabaseConfiguration.DesignTime)
+				foreach (var entityType in modelBuilder.Model.GetEntityTypes())
+				{
+					var properties = entityType
+						.ClrType
+						.GetProperties()
+						.Where(p => p.PropertyType == typeof(DateTimeOffset) || p.PropertyType == typeof(DateTimeOffset?));
+					foreach (var property in properties)
+						modelBuilder
+							.Entity(entityType.Name)
+							.Property(property.Name)
+							.HasConversion(new DateTimeOffsetToBinaryConverter());
+				}
 		}
 
 		/// <inheritdoc />