portability

name	portability
description	How to keep template code database-agnostic and hosting-agnostic. Use when defining schemas, writing raw SQL, creating server routes, or anything that could leak a SQLite-only, Postgres-only, or Node-only assumption.
scope	dev
metadata	{"internal":true}

Portability

Rule

Never write code that only works on one database or one hosting platform. Templates must run on portable SQL backends (SQLite, Postgres, D1, Turso/libSQL, Supabase, Neon, managed platform SQL environments when available) and any Nitro deploy target (Node, Cloudflare, Netlify, Vercel, Deno, Lambda, Bun) without code changes.

Database Agnostic

Use the dialect-agnostic schema helpers from @agent-native/core/db/schema for schemas and Drizzle's query builder for reads/writes:

import {
  table,
  text,
  integer,
  real,
  now,
  sql,
} from "@agent-native/core/db/schema";

export const meals = table("meals", {
  id: text("id").primaryKey(),
  name: text("name").notNull(),
  calories: integer("calories").notNull(),
  weight: real("weight"),
  archived: integer("archived", { mode: "boolean" }).notNull().default(false),
  createdAt: text("created_at").notNull().default(now()),
});

Helper	Purpose
table	Delegates to pgTable or sqliteTable based on dialect
text	Works in both dialects, supports { enum: [...] }
integer	{ mode: "boolean" } maps to Postgres boolean automatically
real	real on SQLite, double precision on Postgres
now	Dialect-agnostic current timestamp — use with .default(now()) on text timestamp columns
sql	Re-exported from drizzle-orm for raw SQL expressions

Never import from drizzle-orm/sqlite-core or drizzle-orm/pg-core directly in template code. Always use @agent-native/core/db/schema instead.

Use Drizzle's portable query DSL for app code:

import { and, desc, eq } from "drizzle-orm";

const rows = await db
  .select()
  .from(meals)
  .where(and(eq(meals.ownerEmail, userEmail), eq(meals.archived, false)))
  .orderBy(desc(meals.createdAt));

Avoid db.execute(...), getDbExec(), and handwritten SQL in actions, handlers, and stores when Drizzle can express the query. Raw SQL should be limited to additive migrations, health checks, carefully reviewed advanced queries, or one-off maintenance scripts. For timestamps in Drizzle schemas, use .default(now()); for migration SQL, use runMigrations() so framework-supported compatibility rewrites and dialect-gated statements stay centralized.

Raw SQL helpers

• getDbExec() — auto-converts ? params to $1 for Postgres
• isPostgres() — runtime dialect check
• intType() — returns correct integer type for the dialect

Never

Never write SQLite-only syntax in product code or docs examples: INSERT OR REPLACE, AUTOINCREMENT, datetime('now'). When writing docs, say "SQL database" — not "SQLite".

Never write Postgres-only syntax in shared app code either: ILIKE, ::type casts, jsonb_*, RETURNING assumptions, serial/identity syntax, ON CONFLICT upserts, or ALTER ... TYPE unless the code is inside a dialect-gated migration block. Prefer Drizzle APIs or framework helpers.

When giving deployment guidance, be precise about durability: local SQLite is the development fallback, while production needs a persistent DATABASE_URL. Do not steer users to Turso as the only path; it is one option among Neon, Supabase, Turso/libSQL, plain Postgres, durable SQLite, D1 bindings, and managed platform SQL environments when available.

Hosting Agnostic

The server runs on Nitro with H3 as the HTTP framework. Templates must be deployable to any Nitro-supported target.

Never use Express

All server code uses H3/Nitro: defineEventHandler, readBody, getMethod, setResponseHeader, etc. Express is not a dependency. If you see Express types or patterns anywhere, replace them with H3 equivalents.

No platform-specific config in scaffolded template source

Files like netlify.toml, wrangler.toml, vercel.json, and netlify/functions/ must NOT appear in the CLI scaffold source (packages/core/src/templates/) — apps generated for users stay hosting-agnostic, with platform configuration living in CI/hosting dashboards.

Exception: this monorepo's own first-party deployed apps (templates/*/netlify.toml, the root wrangler-*.toml files) are deployment artifacts of this repo (mail.agent-native.com, etc.) and are expected to exist. Do not delete them as if they were accidental cruft — the rule above is about what gets scaffolded into a new app, not about this repo's deploy configs.

No Node APIs in server routes/plugins

Never use fs, child_process, or path in server routes and plugins. Use Nitro abstractions. (Actions in actions/ run in Node.js and can use Node APIs freely.)

No persistent-process assumptions

Never assume a persistent server process. Use the SQL database for all state.

Related Skills

• storing-data — Schema patterns and the core SQL stores
• server-plugins — Framework routes and H3 handler patterns
• security — SQL injection prevention via parameterized queries