SQL Optimization

Provide tactical guidance for optimizing SQL query performance across PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQL Server through execution plan analysis, strategic indexing, and query rewriting.

When to Use This Skill

Trigger this skill when encountering:

• Slow query performance or database timeouts
• Analyzing EXPLAIN plans or execution plans
• Determining index requirements
• Rewriting inefficient queries
• Identifying query anti-patterns (N+1, SELECT *, correlated subqueries)
• Database-specific optimization needs (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server)

Core Optimization Workflow

Step 1: Analyze Query Performance

Run execution plan analysis to identify bottlenecks: