designing-database-schemas
Process use when you need to work with database schema design. This skill provides schema design and migrations with comprehensive guidance and automation. Trigger with phrases like "design schema", "create migration", or "model database".
65
58%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
Pending
No eval scenarios have been run
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./plugins/database/database-schema-designer/skills/designing-database-schemas/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
67%Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.
The description covers the basics of what the skill does and when to use it, including explicit trigger phrases. However, it lacks specificity in the concrete actions it performs (e.g., what kinds of schema operations, what migration formats) and uses somewhat vague language like 'comprehensive guidance and automation.' The opening 'Process use when' phrasing is awkward and unclear.
Suggestions
List specific concrete actions such as 'create database tables, define relationships, generate migration files, add indexes and constraints' instead of the vague 'comprehensive guidance and automation'.
Expand trigger terms to include common user phrases like 'database tables', 'SQL schema', 'ERD', 'entity relationship diagram', 'alter table', or 'database structure'.
Fix the awkward opening 'Process use when you need to' — rewrite in third person like 'Designs database schemas and generates migration files.'
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (database schema design) and mentions some actions like 'schema design and migrations' and 'guidance and automation', but doesn't list multiple specific concrete actions (e.g., create tables, define relationships, generate migration files, add indexes). | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Explicitly answers both 'what' (schema design and migrations with guidance and automation) and 'when' (trigger phrases like 'design schema', 'create migration', 'model database'), providing clear trigger guidance. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes some relevant trigger phrases like 'design schema', 'create migration', and 'model database', but misses common natural variations users might say such as 'database tables', 'SQL schema', 'ERD', 'entity relationship', 'alter table', or 'database structure'. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Focuses on database schema design which is a reasonably specific niche, but the broad mention of 'migrations' and 'database' could overlap with general database management or ORM-related skills without more precise scoping. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
50%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill provides a thorough walkthrough of database schema design but suffers from being overly tutorial-like, explaining foundational concepts (normalization forms, relationship types) that Claude already understands. The lack of executable DDL examples is a significant gap for a skill whose primary output is DDL scripts. Adding validation checkpoints and concrete code examples while trimming the textbook-style explanations would substantially improve it.
Suggestions
Replace prose-based examples with complete, executable DDL snippets (e.g., a full CREATE TABLE block for the e-commerce example) to improve actionability.
Remove explanations of normalization forms and basic relationship types—Claude already knows these. Instead, focus on project-specific conventions and non-obvious decisions.
Add explicit validation steps: e.g., 'Run the DDL against a test database to verify it executes without errors' and 'EXPLAIN ANALYZE key queries to verify index usage' as checkpoints in the workflow.
Split detailed content (error handling table, full examples, index strategy patterns) into separate referenced files to keep the main skill concise and improve progressive disclosure.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The skill is fairly comprehensive but includes explanations of concepts Claude already knows well (normalization forms, what 1NF/2NF/3NF mean, basic relationship types like one-to-many). The data type recommendations and constraint guidance are useful project-specific conventions, but the normalization tutorial and relationship definitions are unnecessary padding. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | The skill provides specific data type recommendations and constraint patterns, but lacks executable DDL examples. The examples section describes schemas in prose rather than providing copy-paste-ready SQL. The instructions are detailed but read more like a textbook than executable guidance—no actual CREATE TABLE statements are shown despite the skill being about generating DDL. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The 10-step process is clearly sequenced and logically ordered (entities → keys → normalization → relationships → types → constraints → indexes → denormalization → DDL output). However, there are no validation checkpoints—no step to verify the schema compiles, no feedback loop for testing against sample queries, and no verification that the generated DDL actually executes without errors. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The content is a monolithic document with everything inline. The Resources section links to external documentation, but there's no splitting of content into separate files for the detailed normalization guide, index strategy patterns, or example schemas. The error handling table and examples could be separate reference files to keep the main skill lean. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 8 / 12 Passed |
Validation
81%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 9 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
| Criteria | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
allowed_tools_field | 'allowed-tools' contains unusual tool name(s) | Warning |
frontmatter_unknown_keys | Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata | Warning |
Total | 9 / 11 Passed | |
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