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Db Design

Deep database design workflow—entities and relationships, keys and constraints, normalization vs denormalization, indexing strategy, integrity, and operational concerns. Use when designing OLTP schemas or reviewing greenfield data models.

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Install

openclaw skills install db-design

DB Design

Good OLTP design balances integrity, write paths, query patterns, and evolution—not “third normal form everywhere.”

When to Offer This Workflow

Trigger conditions:

  • Greenfield service schema or major new domain
  • Performance or integrity issues from ad-hoc tables
  • Multi-tenant isolation questions

Initial offer:

Use six stages: (1) domain & access patterns, (2) entities & relationships, (3) keys & constraints, (4) normalization trade-offs, (5) indexing & performance, (6) operations & evolution). Confirm RDBMS and scale expectations.

Stage 1: Domain & Access Patterns

Goal: List critical queries and writes: QPS, joins, filters, hot rows.

Exit condition: Top access paths ranked by business importance.

Stage 2: Entities & Relationships

Goal: ER model; cardinality; optional vs required relationships.

Practices

  • Clear table names; avoid opaque “data” blobs unless documented

Stage 3: Keys & Constraints

Goal: Primary keys (surrogate vs natural); foreign keys with explicit ON DELETE policy; unique constraints for business rules.

Multi-tenant

  • tenant_id on rows that need isolation; composite keys or indexes as appropriate

Stage 4: Normalization Trade-offs

Goal: Normalize to reduce update anomalies; denormalize read hotspots with documented trade-offs.

Stage 5: Indexing & Performance

Goal: Indexes serve real queries; watch write amplification and index bloat.

Stage 6: Operations & Evolution

Goal: Migration strategy (expand/contract); backup/restore; PII columns flagged.

Final Review Checklist

  • Access patterns drive schema
  • Keys, FKs, and constraints explicit
  • Multi-tenant isolation if applicable
  • Normalization decisions justified
  • Index plan aligned with queries
  • Migration and ops considerations noted

Tips for Effective Guidance

  • NULL semantics and defaults matter for bugs and migrations.
  • Pair with db-migrate for online schema changes.

Handling Deviations

  • Document stores: embed vs reference with consistency story.