Database Best Practices

Database Best Practices

General guidance for creating and maintaining knowledge capture databases.

Core Principles

1. Keep It Simple

• Start with core properties
• Add more only when needed
• Don't over-engineer

2. Use Consistent Naming

• Title property for main identifier
• Status for lifecycle tracking
• Tags for flexible categorization
• Owner for accountability

3. Include Metadata

• Created/Updated timestamps
• Owner or maintainer
• Last reviewed dates
• Status indicators

4. Enable Discovery

• Use tags liberally
• Create helpful views
• Link related content
• Use clear titles

5. Plan for Scale

• Consider filters early
• Use relations for connections
• Think about search
• Organize with categories

Creating a Database

Using Notion:notion-create-database

Example for documentation database:

{
  "parent": {"page_id": "wiki-page-id"},
  "title": [{"text": {"content": "Team Documentation"}}],
  "properties": {
    "Type": {
      "select": {
        "options": [
          {"name": "How-To", "color": "blue"},
          {"name": "Concept", "color": "green"},
          {"name": "Reference", "color": "gray"},
          {"name": "FAQ", "color": "yellow"}
        ]
      }
    },
    "Category": {
      "select": {
        "options": [
          {"name": "Engineering", "color": "red"},
          {"name": "Product", "color": "purple"},
          {"name": "Design", "color": "pink"}
        ]
      }
    },
    "Tags": {"multi_select": {"options": []}},
    "Owner": {"people": {}},
    "Status": {
      "select": {
        "options": [
          {"name": "Draft", "color": "gray"},
          {"name": "Final", "color": "green"},
          {"name": "Deprecated", "color": "red"}
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Fetching Database Schema

Before creating pages, always fetch database to get schema:

Notion:notion-fetch
id: "database-url-or-id"

This returns the exact property names and types to use.

Database Selection Guide

Tips

1. Start with general documentation database - most flexible
2. Add specialized databases as needs emerge (FAQ, Decisions)
3. Use relations to connect related docs
4. Create views for common use cases
5. Review properties quarterly - remove unused ones
6. Document the schema in database description
7. Train team on property usage and conventions