diff --git a/alpha/action/migrate.go b/alpha/action/migrate.go
index 962cd6489..0a689108d 100644
--- a/alpha/action/migrate.go
+++ b/alpha/action/migrate.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 
+	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/alpha/action/migrations"
 	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/alpha/declcfg"
 	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/pkg/image"
 )
@@ -12,7 +13,7 @@ import (
 type Migrate struct {
 	CatalogRef string
 	OutputDir  string
-	Level      string
+	Level      migrations.MigrationToken
 
 	WriteFunc declcfg.WriteFunc
 	FileExt   string
diff --git a/alpha/action/migrations/migrations.go b/alpha/action/migrations/migrations.go
index 6f4e3a3ed..143282132 100644
--- a/alpha/action/migrations/migrations.go
+++ b/alpha/action/migrations/migrations.go
@@ -9,20 +9,31 @@ import (
 	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/alpha/declcfg"
 )
 
+type MigrationToken string
+
+const MigrationTokenInvalid MigrationToken = ""
+
 type Migration interface {
+	Token() MigrationToken
 	Name() string
 	Help() string
 	Migrate(*declcfg.DeclarativeConfig) error
 }
 
 func newMigration(name string, help string, fn func(config *declcfg.DeclarativeConfig) error) Migration {
-	return &simpleMigration{name: name, help: help, fn: fn}
+	s := strings.ReplaceAll(help, "`", "\"")
+	return &simpleMigration{token: MigrationToken(name), name: name, help: s, fn: fn}
 }
 
 type simpleMigration struct {
-	name string
-	help string
-	fn   func(*declcfg.DeclarativeConfig) error
+	token MigrationToken
+	name  string
+	help  string
+	fn    func(*declcfg.DeclarativeConfig) error
+}
+
+func (s simpleMigration) Token() MigrationToken {
+	return s.token
 }
 
 func (s simpleMigration) Name() string {
@@ -41,11 +52,20 @@ type Migrations struct {
 	Migrations []Migration
 }
 
-func GetLastMigrationName() string {
+func GetLastMigration() MigrationToken {
 	if len(allMigrations) == 0 {
 		return ""
 	}
-	return allMigrations[len(allMigrations)-1].Name()
+	return allMigrations[len(allMigrations)-1].Token()
+}
+
+func ValidateName(name string) (MigrationToken, error) {
+	for _, migration := range allMigrations {
+		if migration.Name() == name {
+			return migration.Token(), nil
+		}
+	}
+	return MigrationTokenInvalid, fmt.Errorf("unknown migration level %q", name)
 }
 
 // allMigrations represents the migration catalog
@@ -54,7 +74,7 @@ var allMigrations = []Migration{
 	bundleObjectToCSVMetadata,
 }
 
-func NewMigrations(level string) (*Migrations, error) {
+func NewMigrations(level MigrationToken) (*Migrations, error) {
 	if level == "" {
 		return &Migrations{}, nil
 	}
@@ -65,7 +85,7 @@ func NewMigrations(level string) (*Migrations, error) {
 	keep := migrations[:0]
 	for _, migration := range migrations {
 		keep = append(keep, migration)
-		if migration.Name() == level {
+		if migration.Token() == level {
 			found = true
 			break
 		}
@@ -84,9 +104,9 @@ func HelpText() string {
 		help.WriteString("   (no migrations available in this version)\n")
 	}
 
-	tabber := tabwriter.NewWriter(&help, 20, 30, 1, '\t', tabwriter.AlignRight)
+	tabber := tabwriter.NewWriter(&help, 8, 8, 1, '\t', 0)
 	for _, migration := range allMigrations {
-		fmt.Fprintf(tabber, "    - %s\t%s\n", migration.Name(), migration.Help())
+		fmt.Fprintf(tabber, "   - %s\t%s\n", migration.Name(), migration.Help())
 	}
 	tabber.Flush()
 	return help.String()
diff --git a/alpha/action/render.go b/alpha/action/render.go
index 75ea58a07..cf7e1bb2f 100644
--- a/alpha/action/render.go
+++ b/alpha/action/render.go
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ type Render struct {
 	Refs             []string
 	Registry         image.Registry
 	AllowedRefMask   RefType
-	MigrationLevel   string
+	MigrationLevel   migrations.MigrationToken
 	ImageRefTemplate *template.Template
 
 	skipSqliteDeprecationLog bool
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ func moveBundleObjectsToEndOfPropertySlices(cfg *declcfg.DeclarativeConfig) {
 	}
 }
 
-func migrate(cfg *declcfg.DeclarativeConfig, migrateLevel string) error {
+func migrate(cfg *declcfg.DeclarativeConfig, migrateLevel migrations.MigrationToken) error {
 	mobj, err := migrations.NewMigrations(migrateLevel)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/alpha/template/basic/basic.go b/alpha/template/basic/basic.go
index fc467162e..d270560ba 100644
--- a/alpha/template/basic/basic.go
+++ b/alpha/template/basic/basic.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/yaml"
 
 	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/alpha/action"
+	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/alpha/action/migrations"
 	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/alpha/declcfg"
 	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/pkg/image"
 )
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ const schema string = "olm.template.basic"
 
 type Template struct {
 	Registry       image.Registry
-	MigrationLevel string
+	MigrationLevel migrations.MigrationToken
 }
 
 type BasicTemplate struct {
diff --git a/alpha/template/semver/types.go b/alpha/template/semver/types.go
index 458252321..8dc777ec9 100644
--- a/alpha/template/semver/types.go
+++ b/alpha/template/semver/types.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/blang/semver/v4"
 
+	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/alpha/action/migrations"
 	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry/pkg/image"
 )
 
@@ -12,7 +13,7 @@ import (
 type Template struct {
 	Data           io.Reader
 	Registry       image.Registry
-	MigrationLevel string
+	MigrationLevel migrations.MigrationToken
 }
 
 // IO structs -- BEGIN
diff --git a/cmd/opm/alpha/template/basic.go b/cmd/opm/alpha/template/basic.go
index 3729df960..f09f6498a 100644
--- a/cmd/opm/alpha/template/basic.go
+++ b/cmd/opm/alpha/template/basic.go
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ import (
 
 func newBasicTemplateCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	var (
-		template basic.Template
+		template     basic.Template
+		migrateLevel string
 	)
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use: "basic basic-template-file",
@@ -63,6 +64,14 @@ When FILE is '-' or not provided, the template is read from standard input`,
 
 			template.Registry = reg
 
+			if migrateLevel != "" {
+				token, err := migrations.ValidateName(migrateLevel)
+				if err != nil {
+					log.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				template.MigrationLevel = token
+			}
+
 			// only taking first file argument
 			cfg, err := template.Render(cmd.Context(), data)
 			if err != nil {
@@ -75,7 +84,7 @@ When FILE is '-' or not provided, the template is read from standard input`,
 		},
 	}
 
-	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&template.MigrationLevel, "migrate-level", "", "Name of the last migration to run (default: none)\n"+migrations.HelpText())
+	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&migrateLevel, "migrate-level", "", "Name of the last migration to run (default: none)\n"+migrations.HelpText())
 
 	return cmd
 }
diff --git a/cmd/opm/alpha/template/semver.go b/cmd/opm/alpha/template/semver.go
index 7caf93036..a74b2975d 100644
--- a/cmd/opm/alpha/template/semver.go
+++ b/cmd/opm/alpha/template/semver.go
@@ -72,6 +72,13 @@ When FILE is '-' or not provided, the template is read from standard input`,
 				Data:     data,
 				Registry: reg,
 			}
+			if migrateLevel != "" {
+				token, err := migrations.ValidateName(migrateLevel)
+				if err != nil {
+					log.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				template.MigrationLevel = token
+			}
 			out, err := template.Render(cmd.Context())
 			if err != nil {
 				log.Fatalf("semver %q: %v", source, err)
diff --git a/cmd/opm/migrate/cmd.go b/cmd/opm/migrate/cmd.go
index 501763090..caf9b498d 100644
--- a/cmd/opm/migrate/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/opm/migrate/cmd.go
@@ -14,8 +14,9 @@ import (
 
 func NewCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	var (
-		migrate action.Migrate
-		output  string
+		migrate      action.Migrate
+		migrateLevel string
+		output       string
 	)
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "migrate <indexRef> <outputDir>",
@@ -43,6 +44,14 @@ parsers that assume that a file contains exactly one valid JSON object.
 				log.Fatalf("invalid --output value %q, expected (json|yaml)", output)
 			}
 
+			if migrateLevel != "" {
+				level, err := migrations.ValidateName(migrateLevel)
+				if err != nil {
+					log.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				migrate.Level = level
+			}
+
 			logrus.Infof("rendering index %q as file-based catalog", migrate.CatalogRef)
 			if err := migrate.Run(cmd.Context()); err != nil {
 				logrus.New().Fatal(err)
@@ -52,7 +61,7 @@ parsers that assume that a file contains exactly one valid JSON object.
 		},
 	}
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&output, "output", "o", "json", "Output format (json|yaml)")
-	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&migrate.Level, "migrate-level", "", "Name of the last migration to run (default: none)\n"+migrations.HelpText())
+	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&migrateLevel, "migrate-level", "", "Name of the last migration to run (default: none)\n"+migrations.HelpText())
 
 	return cmd
 }
diff --git a/cmd/opm/render/cmd.go b/cmd/opm/render/cmd.go
index ebc8bb69d..7c5b3edbc 100644
--- a/cmd/opm/render/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/opm/render/cmd.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ func NewCmd(showAlphaHelp bool) *cobra.Command {
 		imageRefTemplate string
 
 		deprecatedMigrateFlag bool
+		migrateLevel          string
 	)
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "render [catalog-image | catalog-directory | bundle-image | bundle-directory | sqlite-file]...",
@@ -68,7 +69,13 @@ database files.
 
 			// if the deprecated flag was used, set the level explicitly to the last migration to perform all migrations
 			if deprecatedMigrateFlag {
-				render.MigrationLevel = migrations.GetLastMigrationName()
+				render.MigrationLevel = migrations.GetLastMigration()
+			} else if migrateLevel != "" {
+				level, err := migrations.ValidateName(migrateLevel)
+				if err != nil {
+					log.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				render.MigrationLevel = level
 			}
 
 			cfg, err := render.Run(cmd.Context())
@@ -83,7 +90,7 @@ database files.
 	}
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&output, "output", "o", "json", "Output format of the streamed file-based catalog objects (json|yaml)")
 
-	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&render.MigrationLevel, "migrate-level", "", "Name of the last migration to run (default: none)\n"+migrations.HelpText())
+	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&migrateLevel, "migrate-level", "", "Name of the last migration to run (default: none)\n"+migrations.HelpText())
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&deprecatedMigrateFlag, "migrate", false, "Perform migrations on the rendered FBC")
 	cmd.Flags().MarkDeprecated("migrate", "use --migrate-level instead")
 	cmd.MarkFlagsMutuallyExclusive("migrate", "migrate-level")