Database Design

A practical reference for designing, indexing, migrating, and operating relational databases in production, with PostgreSQL as the primary target.

When to Activate

• Designing a new database schema or data model
• Adding indexes to improve query performance
• Writing or reviewing a database migration
• Optimizing a slow SQL query
• Choosing between normalization and denormalization strategies
• Setting up connection pooling for a service
• Planning a zero-downtime schema change in production

Schema Design Principles

Normalization