Database Design

This one's your database architect in a box. It walks you through the full workflow from entity design to migration deployment, with a strong emphasis on doing things correctly the first time. You get solid coverage of normalization principles, indexing strategies for different query patterns, N+1 detection across ORMs, and zero-downtime migration patterns. The EXPLAIN plan guidance and cursor-based pagination examples are especially practical. What I appreciate is the honest take on denormalization: it tells you to measure first, not denormalize on hunches. The connection pooling section gives you actual numbers instead of vague advice. Load this when you're designing schemas, hunting performance issues, or planning migrations that won't lock your tables.

skills.sh installs: 139
GitHub stars: 1.4K
last updated: Jun 9, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add cloudai-x/claude-workflow-v2 --skill database-design --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

Database Design

When to Load

Trigger: Schema design, migrations, query optimization, indexing strategies, data modeling, N+1 fixes
Skip: No database work involved in the current task

Database Design Workflow

Copy this checklist and track progress:

Database Design Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Identify entities and relationships
- [ ] Step 2: Normalize schema (3NF minimum)
- [ ] Step 3: Evaluate denormalization needs
- [ ] Step 4: Design indexes for query patterns
- [ ] Step 5: Write and optimize critical queries
- [ ] Step 6: Plan migration strategy
- [ ] Step 7: Configure connection pooling
- [ ] Step 8: Validate against anti-patterns checklist

Schema Design Principles

Normalization Forms

1NF: Atomic values, no repeating groups
2NF: 1NF + no partial dependencies (all non-key columns depend on full PK)
3NF: 2NF + no transitive dependencies (non-key columns don't depend on other non-key columns)

SKILL.md on GitHub