What do I need to use Database Schema Design?

Domain description; Entities and relationships; Expected query patterns; Database engine; Expected data volume; Constraints.

Is Database Schema Design free to use?

Yes — run it free in the browser playground (no API key needed for the sponsored trial, or bring any provider key), or install it into Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT and more via npx pm-claude-skills. MIT-licensed and open source.

Database Schema Design

Q: How do I know the Database Schema Design output is good?

The skill verifies itself against its own quality checks: Every table has a primary key and a `created_at` column — no implicit ordering by row insertion; Every foreign key has a corresponding index — no missing FK indexes that would cause full table scans on joins; All TIMESTAMPTZ columns, not TIMESTAMP — timezone awareness is explicit; Soft-delete tables document the convention and where the filter is enforced (ORM scope, view, or query standard).

🔵 Stable🕐 updated 2026-06-08 🔷 SkillSpec L3 pm-engineering

Document or design a database schema with entity relationships, table definitions, constraints, indexes, and access patterns. Use when asked to design a database, document an existing schema, model entities and relationships, define table structures, plan an index strategy, or produce a data model for review. Produces a structured schema document covering an ER diagram, table DDL definitions, index strategy, access pattern analysis, normalization decisions, and migration notes.

▶ Run it free — no key needed 📝 Grade your existing draft View SKILL.md ↗

What to give it

▸Domain description — what the system does; what business objects are being modelled

▸Entities and relationships — the main things in the domain and how they relate (e.g. "a User has many Orders; an Order has many OrderItems; an OrderItem references a Product")

▸Expected query patterns — the most important read and write queries (e.g. "fetch all orders for a user, sorted by date"; "look up a product by SKU")

▸Database engine — PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, CockroachDB, etc. — this affects DDL syntax and available types

▸Expected data volume — approximate row counts, growth rate, and any partitioning needs

▸Constraints — any existing conventions, naming standards, or migration constraints to respect

✅ The bar it holds itself to

Every skill in this library self-verifies — these are this skill's own quality checks, straight from its definition.

✓Every table has a primary key and a `created_at` column — no implicit ordering by row insertion

✓Every foreign key has a corresponding index — no missing FK indexes that would cause full table scans on joins

✓All TIMESTAMPTZ columns, not TIMESTAMP — timezone awareness is explicit

✓Soft-delete tables document the convention and where the filter is enforced (ORM scope, view, or query standard)

✓Every access pattern in the design has a supporting index or an explicit note that a full table scan is acceptable

✓JSONB columns are justified — not used as a substitute for proper schema design on queryable fields

✓Normalization decisions are documented with reasoning, not just stated

✓Migration notes address existing data if this is a schema change, not a greenfield schema

⚠️ What it refuses to do

Do not use JSONB columns as a substitute for proper relational schema design on fields that will be queried

Do not add indexes speculatively — every index must be justified by a specific access pattern

Do not omit timezone-awareness — use TIMESTAMPTZ, never plain TIMESTAMP

Do not design without documenting normalization decisions — future maintainers need the reasoning, not just the structure

Do not skip the access patterns section — schema without query patterns cannot be evaluated for correctness

Install

npx pm-claude-skills add --agent claude   # or codex · cursor · gemini · hermes
# or one-line MCP (every skill, any client):
claude mcp add pm-skills -- npx -y pm-claude-skills-mcp

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💬 Discussion

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