Database design principles and decision-making. Schema design, indexing strategy, ORM selection, serverless databases.
Install with the open skills CLI (global, non-interactive — available in every Claude Code session):
npx skills add davila7/claude-code-templates --skill "database-design" -g -a claude-code -yOr manually — clone and copy the skill directory (SKILL.md + companion files):
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/davila7/claude-code-templates /tmp/claude-code-templates && cp -r /tmp/claude-code-templates/cli-tool/components/skills/development/database-design ~/.claude/skills/database-design-davila7This skill is a directory: SKILL.md is the entry point; the files below ship with it.
---
name: database-design
description: Database design principles and decision-making. Schema design, indexing strategy, ORM selection, serverless databases.
allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep
---
# Database Design
> **Learn to THINK, not copy SQL patterns.**
## 🎯 Selective Reading Rule
**Read ONLY files relevant to the request!** Check the content map, find what you need.
| File | Description | When to Read |
|------|-------------|--------------|
| `database-selection.md` | PostgreSQL vs Neon vs Turso vs SQLite | Choosing database |
| `orm-selection.md` | Drizzle vs Prisma vs Kysely | Choosing ORM |
| `schema-design.md` | Normalization, PKs, relationships | Designing schema |
| `indexing.md` | Index types, composite indexes | Performance tuning |
| `optimization.md` | N+1, EXPLAIN ANALYZE | Query optimization |
| `migrations.md` | Safe migrations, serverless DBs | Schema changes |
---
## ⚠️ Core Principle
- ASK user for database preferences when unclear
- Choose database/ORM based on CONTEXT
- Don't default to PostgreSQL for everything
---
## Decision Checklist
Before designing schema:
- [ ] Asked user about database preference?
- [ ] Chosen database for THIS context?
- [ ] Considered deployment environment?
- [ ] Planned index strategy?
- [ ] Defined relationship types?
---
## Anti-Patterns
❌ Default to PostgreSQL for simple apps (SQLite may suffice)
❌ Skip indexing
❌ Use SELECT * in production
❌ Store JSON when structured data is better
❌ Ignore N+1 queries