# The Ten Rules of Schema Growth - Datomic

<https://blog.datomic.com/2017/01/the-ten-rules-of-schema-growth.html>

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- Saved: November 1, 2023 (2023-11-02T00:27:15Z)
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## What Jamie wrote

I liked this article because it is part of a long running system that isn't talked about that much. Maintaining your database schema over time and growth is a whole art in itself. Most of these suggestions are ones that are earned with a lot of bruises and scraps over the years. Hard won experiences.

> 1.  Prod is not like dev.
> 2.  Grow your schema, and never break it.
> 3. The database is the source of truth.
> 4.  Growing is adding.
> 5.  Never remove a name.
> 6.  Never reuse a name.
> 7.  Use aliases.
> 8.  Namespace all names.
> 9.  Annotate your schema.
> 10. Plan for accretion.

This is the kind of thing an experienced database expert knows well.

## Facts

- Kind: [Page](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/kinds/page/)

## Appears in

- [WT268: Weekly Thing 268 / Schema, Achtung, Gamification](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/268/), Notable

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## Elsewhere

- Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://blog.datomic.com/2017/01/the-ten-rules-of-schema-growth.html