planetscale

PlanetScale serverless MySQL with branching. Use for scalable MySQL.

7 stars

byG1Joshi

View on GitHub Installation ↓

Best use case

planetscale is best used when you need a repeatable AI agent workflow instead of a one-off prompt.

PlanetScale serverless MySQL with branching. Use for scalable MySQL.

Teams using planetscale should expect a more consistent output, faster repeated execution, less prompt rewriting.

When to use this skill

You want a reusable workflow that can be run more than once with consistent structure.

When not to use this skill

You only need a quick one-off answer and do not need a reusable workflow.
You cannot install or maintain the underlying files, dependencies, or repository context.

Installation

Claude Code / Cursor / Codex

$curl -o ~/.claude/skills/planetscale/SKILL.md --create-dirs "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/G1Joshi/Agent-Skills/main/skills/databases/planetscale/SKILL.md"

Manual Installation

Download SKILL.md from GitHub
Place it in .claude/skills/planetscale/SKILL.md inside your project
Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill

How planetscale Compares

Feature / Agent	planetscale	Standard Approach
Platform Support	Not specified	Limited / Varies
Context Awareness	High	Baseline
Installation Complexity	Unknown	N/A

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this skill do?

PlanetScale serverless MySQL with branching. Use for scalable MySQL.

Where can I find the source code?

You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.

SKILL.md Source

# PlanetScale

PlanetScale is a serverless database platform compatible with MySQL. It is built on **Vitess**, the technology used by YouTube/Slack to scale massively.

## When to Use

- **High Traffic MySQL**: When you need "sharding" but don't want to build it yourself.
- **Schema Management**: excellent "Branching" workflow (Development -> Staging -> Production) without downtime (Online DDL).
- **Connections**: Handles 100,000s of concurrent connections (Vitess architecture).

## Quick Start

Uses standard MySQL drivers.

```bash
# Connect via CLI
pscale shell my-database main
```

## Core Concepts

### Branching

Treat your database schema like Git code.

1. Create a `dev` branch from `main`.
2. Apply migrations to `dev`.
3. Open a "Deploy Request" to merge `dev` to `main`.
4. PlanetScale runs the schema change online without locking tables.

### Vitess

Abstracts the sharding. Your app sees one big DB, but behind scenes it might be 100 shards.

### Non-Blocking Schema Changes

Ghost/PT-OSC style schema changes standard. You never lock the table for "ALTER TABLE".

## Best Practices (2025)

**Do**:

- **Use Foreign Keys carefully**: PlanetScale supports them now (mostly), but conceptually in sharded systems, application-level joins are often safer/faster.
- **Use `pscale` CLI**: Great developer experience for managing branches.
- **Safe Migrations**: Use the Branching workflow. Never run `ALTER TABLE` directly on production `main` branch.

**Don't**:

- **Don't use stored procedures/triggers**: Vitess generally discourages logic in the DB. Move logic to app.

## References

- [PlanetScale Documentation](https://planetscale.com/docs)