How to fix 'django.db.utils.OperationalError: near "None": syntax error' db.sqlite3?

I am attempting to create a user model for my Django REST framework and, sadly, I'm experiencing some unexpected difficulty: when I run 'python manage.py makemigrations' everything functions as it should, but, when I try to run a migration, I am greeted with this error 'return Database.Cursor.execute(self, query) django.db.utils.OperationalError: near "None": syntax error'.

I've tried altering the code in the models.py but it still yielded the same results, even if I set the user model class to only have one id field. I am using django version 1.11.17 and drf version 3.9.0

models.py:

class User(models.Model):
    id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)

    email = models.CharField(unique=True, null=False, max_length=200)
    phone = models.IntegerField(unique=True, null=False)
    first_name = models.CharField(null=False, max_length=200)
    last_name = models.CharField(null=False, max_length=200)
    is_active = models.BooleanField(_('active'), default=False)
    last_seen = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True, null=True)
    updated_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True, null=True)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, null=True)

    avatar = models.CharField(null=True)

migrations/0001_initial.py:

class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    initial = True

    dependencies = [
    ]

    operations = [
    migrations.CreateModel(
        name='User',
        fields=[
            ('id', models.AutoField(primary_key=True, serialize=False)),
            ('email', models.CharField(max_length=200, unique=True)),
            ('phone', models.IntegerField(unique=True)),
            ('first_name', models.CharField(max_length=200)),
            ('last_name', models.CharField(max_length=200)),
            ('last_seen', models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True, null=True)),
            ('updated_at', models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True, null=True)),
            ('created_at', models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, null=True)),
            ('avatar', models.CharField(null=True)),
        ],
    ),
]

full stack trace:

  File "manage.py", line 22, in <module>
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 364, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 356, in execute
    self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 283, in run_from_argv
    self.execute(*args, **cmd_options)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 330, in execute
    output = self.handle(*args, **options)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/migrate.py", line 204, in handle
    fake_initial=fake_initial,
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/migrations/executor.py", line 115, in migrate
    state = self._migrate_all_forwards(state, plan, full_plan, fake=fake, fake_initial=fake_initial)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/migrations/executor.py", line 145, in _migrate_all_forwards
    state = self.apply_migration(state, migration, fake=fake, fake_initial=fake_initial)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/migrations/executor.py", line 244, in apply_migration
    state = migration.apply(state, schema_editor)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/migrations/migration.py", line 129, in apply
    operation.database_forwards(self.app_label, schema_editor, old_state, project_state)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/migrations/operations/models.py", line 97, in database_forwards
    schema_editor.create_model(model)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/base/schema.py", line 319, in create_model
    self.execute(sql, params or None)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/base/schema.py", line 136, in execute
    cursor.execute(sql, params)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/utils.py", line 79, in execute
    return super(CursorDebugWrapper, self).execute(sql, params)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/utils.py", line 64, in execute
    return self.cursor.execute(sql, params)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 94, in __exit__
    six.reraise(dj_exc_type, dj_exc_value, traceback)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/utils.py", line 62, in execute
    return self.cursor.execute(sql)
  File "/Users/my_username/myapp/myapp/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/sqlite3/base.py", line 326, in execute
    return Database.Cursor.execute(self, query)
  django.db.utils.OperationalError: near "None": syntax error

I want to be able to successfully run the migration.

Solution

The issue ended up being that I didn't specify a max_length for the avatar field so the resultant query generated by django was

CREATE TABLE "user" ("id" integer NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, "email" varchar(200) NOT NULL UNIQUE, "phone" integer NOT NULL UNIQUE, "first_name" varchar(200) NOT NULL, "last_name" varchar(200) NOT NULL, "is_active" bool NOT NULL, "last_seen" datetime NULL, "updated_at" datetime NULL, "created_at" datetime NULL, "avatar" varchar(None) NULL);

and the varchar(None) was breaking the syntax. The more you know.