gorm-sql-postgresql-syntax

PostgreSQL Syntax

Expert-level review of raw PostgreSQL SQL syntax in GORM/Go projects. Ensures correct Postgres-specific usage, idiomatic SQL, and avoids common runtime errors.

When to Apply

Use this skill when:

• Writing raw SQL in db.Raw(), db.Exec(), or migration files
• Debugging syntax error or operator does not exist PostgreSQL errors
• Reviewing SQL expressions involving JSONB, UUID, timestamps, or reserved keywords
• Using RETURNING, CTEs, window functions, or ILIKE

Rule Categories

Priority	Count	Focus
Critical	1	Placeholder style mismatch
High	4	Identifier quoting, RETURNING, ILIKE, type casting
Medium	4	CTE readability, JSONB operators, INTERVAL, select redundancy

Rules Covered (9 total)

Critical Issues (1)

• critical-placeholder-style — Use ? with GORM, $N only with pgx/pq directly

High-Impact Patterns (4)

• high-identifier-quoting — Quote reserved keywords (order, user, group) in raw SQL
• high-returning-clause — Use RETURNING for generated values after INSERT/UPDATE
• high-ilike-search — Use ILIKE for case-insensitive search, not LOWER(col) LIKE
• high-explicit-cast — Cast types explicitly (::uuid, ::bigint) to avoid operator does not exist

Medium Improvements (4)

• medium-cte-readability — Use CTEs instead of nested subqueries for complex queries
• medium-jsonb-operators — Use correct @>, ->>, -> operators for JSONB queries
• medium-interval-arithmetic — Use INTERVAL for date math, not manual second calculations
• medium-select-redundancy — Don't manually quote plain column names in .Select() (GORM handles it)

Trigger Phrases

• "Check this raw SQL"
• "db.Raw / db.Exec"
• "SQL syntax error"
• "operator does not exist"
• "reserved keyword"
• "JSONB query"
• "PostgreSQL compatibility"

Cross-Reference with golang-best-practices-skill

Two rules in this skill directly extend rules from the companion database-repository skill in golang-best-practices-skill: