SOTA Databases

Expert-level rules for the full lifecycle of a data layer: choosing an engine, modeling data, evolving schemas safely, writing efficient queries, handling concurrency, operating reliably at scale, securing data, and supporting vector/AI workloads. Postgres is the reference engine; rules call out where other systems (MySQL, Redis, document/columnar/vector stores) differ.

This skill operates in two modes. Determine the mode from the user's intent, then load the relevant rules/ files per the index below. Do not load all files preemptively — pick by task.

BUILD mode

Use when designing or implementing: new schemas, migrations, queries, ORM layers, caching, job queues, or database infrastructure.