drizzle

Drizzle ORM Best Practices

Drizzle ORM is our go-to for type-safe SQL. Follow these guidelines religiously to ensure maintainable, performant, and secure database interactions.

1. Code Organization and Structure

Organize your schema logically. Each domain should have its own file, and all schemas should be re-exported from a central index.ts for Drizzle Kit.

Schema File Structure

✅ GOOD: Modular Schema Files Keep each logical domain in its own file under src/db/schema/.

// src/db/schema/users.ts
import { pgTable, serial, text, varchar } from 'drizzle-orm/pg-core';

export const users = pgTable('users', {
  id: serial('id').primaryKey(),
  fullName: text('full_name').notNull(),
  email: varchar('email', { length: 256 }).unique().notNull(),
});

// src/db/schema/posts.ts
import { pgTable, serial, text, timestamp, varchar } from 'drizzle-orm/pg-core';
import { users } from './users'; // Import related schema

export const posts = pgTable('posts', {
  id: serial('id').primaryKey(),
  title: varchar('title', { length: 256 }).notNull(),
  content: text('content'),
  authorId: serial('author_id').references(() => users.id).notNull(), // Foreign key
  createdAt: timestamp('created_at').defaultNow().notNull(),
});

// src/db/schema/index.ts (for Drizzle Kit and client)
import * as usersSchema from './users';
import * as postsSchema from './posts';

export const schema = {
  ...usersSchema,
  ...postsSchema,
};

❌ BAD: Monolithic Schema File Avoid dumping all tables into a single file. It hinders discoverability and tree-shaking.

// src/db/schema.ts
import { pgTable, serial, text, varchar, timestamp } from 'drizzle-orm/pg-core';

export const users = pgTable('users', { /* ... */ });
export const posts = pgTable('posts', { /* ... */ });
// ... many more tables

Naming Conventions

✅ GOOD: camelCase for TypeScript, snake_case for Database This aligns with community standards and keeps your code idiomatic. Declare enums with pgEnum and reuse them.