supabase-postgres-best-practices

name supabase-postgres-best-practices description Postgres best practices maintained by Supabase, for Postgres running anywhere. Load this skill BEFORE writing or changing anything that lives in a Postgres database: creating or altering tables and columns (including choosing column types), schema design, migrations and declarative schema files, RLS policies and the tests that verify them, indexes, triggers, database functions, queues and scheduled jobs (pg_cron, pgmq), vector/semantic search (pgvector), and restoring dumps (pg_restore) or importing data. Also load it when diagnosing slow queries, high CPU, timeouts, EXPLAIN plans, connection exhaustion, locking, bloat, or rows visible to the wrong user or tenant. This is not just a performance guide — schema, migration, security, and SQL authoring tasks need these rules too, even for a one-column change or a single query. license MIT metadata {"author":"supabase","version":"1.1.1","organization":"Supabase","date":"January 2026","abstract":"Comprehensive Postgres performance optimization guide for developers using Supabase and Postgres. Contains performance rules across 8 categories, prioritized by impact from critical (query performance, connection management) to incremental (advanced features). Each rule includes detailed explanations, incorrect vs. correct SQL examples, query plan analysis, and specific performance metrics to guide automated optimization and code generation."} Supabase Postgres Best Practices Comprehensive performance optimization guide for Postgres, maintained by Supabase. Contains rules across 8 categories, prioritized by impact to guide automated query optimization and schema design. When to Apply Reference these guidelines when: Writing SQL queries or designing schemas Implementing indexes or query optimization Reviewing database performance issues Configuring connection pooling or scaling Optimizing for Postgres-specific features Working with Row-Level Security (RLS) Rule Categories by Priority Priority Category Impact Prefix 1 Query Performance CRITICAL query- 2 Connection Management CRITICAL conn- 3 Security & RLS CRITICAL security- 4 Schema Design HIGH schema- 5 Concurrency & Locking MEDIUM-HIGH lock- 6 Data Access Patterns MEDIUM data- 7 Monitoring & Diagnostics LOW-MEDIUM monitor- 8 Advanced Features LOW advanced- How to Use Read individual rule files for detailed explanations and SQL examples: references/query-missing-indexes.md references/query-partial-indexes.md references/_sections.md Each rule file contains: Brief explanation of why it matters Incorrect SQL example with explanation Correct SQL example with explanation Optional EXPLAIN output or metrics Additional context and references Supabase-specific notes (when applicable) References https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/ https://supabase.com/docs https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Performance_Optimization https://supabase.com/docs/guides/database/overview https://supabase.com/docs/guides/auth/row-level-security