design-postgres-tables
Use this skill for general PostgreSQL table design. **Trigger when user asks to:** - Design PostgreSQL tables, schemas, or data models when creating new tables and when modifying existing ones. - Choose data types, constraints, or indexes for PostgreSQL - Create user tables, order tables, reference tables, or JSONB schemas - Understand PostgreSQL best practices for normalization, constraints, or indexing - Design update-heavy, upsert-heavy, or OLTP-style tables **Keywords:** PostgreSQL schema, table design, data types, PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY, indexes, B-tree, GIN, JSONB, constraints, normali
Profile →npx skills add timescale/pg-aiguide --skill design-postgres-tables --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# PostgreSQL Table Design ## Core Rules - Define a **PRIMARY KEY** for reference tables (users, orders, etc.). Not always needed for time-series/event/log data. When used, prefer `BIGINT GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY`; use `UUID` only when global uniqueness/opacity is needed. - **Normalize first (to 3NF)** to eliminate data redundancy and update anomalies; denormalize **only** for measured, high-ROI reads where join performance is proven problematic. Premature denormalization creates maintenance burden. - Add **NOT NULL** everywhere it’s semantically required; use **DEFAULT**s for common values. - Create **indexes for access paths you actually query**: PK/unique (auto), **FK columns (manual!)**, frequent filters/sorts, and join keys. - Prefer **TIMESTAMPTZ** for event time; **NUMERIC** for money; **TEXT** for strings; **BIGINT** for integer values, **DOUBLE PRECISION** for floats (or `NUMERIC` for exact decimal arithmetic). ## PostgreSQL “Gotchas” - **Identifiers**: unquoted → lowercased. Avoid quoted/mixed-case names. Convention: use `snake_case` for table/column names. - **Unique + NULLs**: UNIQUE allows multiple NULLs. Use `UNIQUE (...) NULLS NOT DISTINCT` (PG15+) to restrict to
- Core Rules
- PostgreSQL “Gotchas”
- Data Types
- Do not use the following data types
- Table Types
- Row-Level Security
- Constraints
- Indexing
- Partitioning
- Special Considerations
- Update-Heavy Tables
- Insert-Heavy Workloads
- Upsert-Friendly Design
- Safe Schema Evolution
What does the design-postgres-tables skill do?
Use this skill for general PostgreSQL table design. **Trigger when user asks to:** - Design PostgreSQL tables, schemas, or data models when creating new tables and when modifying existing ones. - Choose data types, constraints, or indexes for PostgreSQL - Create user tables, order tables, reference tables, or JSONB schemas - Understand PostgreSQL best practices for normalization, constraints, or indexing - Design update-heavy, upsert-heavy, or OLTP-style tables **Keywords:** PostgreSQL schema, table design, data types, PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY, indexes, B-tree, GIN, JSONB, constraints, normali
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add timescale/pg-aiguide --skill design-postgres-tables --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From timescale/pg-aiguide, a repository with 1,806 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.