MySQL
Use this skill to make safe, measurable MySQL/InnoDB changes.
Workflow
- •Define workload and constraints (read/write mix, latency target, data volume, MySQL version, hosting platform).
- •Read only the relevant reference files linked in each section below.
- •Propose the smallest change that can solve the problem, including trade-offs.
- •Validate with evidence (
EXPLAIN,EXPLAIN ANALYZE, lock/connection metrics, and production-safe rollout steps). - •For production changes, include rollback and post-deploy verification.
Schema Design
- •Prefer narrow, monotonic PKs (
BIGINT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT) for write-heavy OLTP tables. - •Avoid random UUID values as clustered PKs; if external IDs are required, keep UUID in a secondary unique column.
- •Always
utf8mb4/utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci. PreferNOT NULL,DATETIMEoverTIMESTAMP. - •Lookup tables over
ENUM. Normalize to 3NF; denormalize only for measured hot paths.
References:
Indexing
- •Composite order: equality first, then range/sort (leftmost prefix rule).
- •Range predicates stop index usage for subsequent columns.
- •Secondary indexes include PK implicitly. Prefix indexes for long strings.
- •Audit via
performance_schema— drop indexes withcount_read = 0.
References:
Partitioning
- •Partition time-series (>50M rows) or large tables (>100M rows). Plan early — retrofit = full rebuild.
- •Include partition column in every unique/PK. Always add a
MAXVALUEcatch-all.
References:
Query Optimization
- •Check
EXPLAIN— red flags:type: ALL,Using filesort,Using temporary. - •Cursor pagination, not
OFFSET. Avoid functions on indexed columns inWHERE. - •Batch inserts (500–5000 rows).
UNION ALLoverUNIONwhen dedup unnecessary.
References:
Transactions & Locking
- •Default:
REPEATABLE READ(gap locks). UseREAD COMMITTEDfor high contention. - •Consistent row access order prevents deadlocks. Retry error 1213 with backoff.
- •Do I/O outside transactions. Use
SELECT ... FOR UPDATEsparingly.
References:
Operations
- •Use online DDL (
ALGORITHM=INPLACE) when possible; test on replicas first. - •Tune connection pooling — avoid
max_connectionsexhaustion under load. - •Monitor replication lag; avoid stale reads from replicas during writes.
References:
Guardrails
- •Prefer measured evidence over blanket rules of thumb.
- •Note MySQL-version-specific behavior when giving advice.
- •Ask for explicit human approval before destructive data operations (drops/deletes/truncates).