| name | data-model-discovery |
| description | Essential questions to ask before designing a data model |
| languages | ["all"] |
| subagents | ["architect/data-model"] |
| tools_needed | [] |
Data Model Discovery Questions
Before designing any data model, ask these questions:
-
What are the core entities and their relationships?
- Identify nouns in requirements
- Map relationships (1:1, 1:many, many:many)
-
What are the most common read patterns?
- Which queries will run most frequently?
- What filters/sorts are needed?
-
What are the most common write patterns?
- Insert frequency and volume
- Update patterns and triggers
-
Are there soft-delete, audit trail, or versioning requirements?
- Do records need to be recoverable?
- Is history tracking required?
-
Any known scale constraints?
- Expected row counts
- Request volume (reads/writes per second)
- Geographic distribution
Usage
- Ask all questions before producing designs
- Document answers in design doc
- Use answers to inform indexing and denormalization decisions