Document schema design

Document Schema Design

Purpose

Design MongoDB collections around how the data is read and written: embed what's accessed together, reference what's shared or unbounded, and keep every duplication's consistency story explicit. "Schemaless" means the database doesn't force design — not that design is optional.

When to Use

• After MongoDB is approved (database-selection), before implementation.
• When extending collections for a feature.
• Not for relational schemas (relational-schema-design) — and if this design keeps fighting for joins/transactions everywhere, escalate back to database-selection.

Inputs

• Domain model + the access patterns (which data is read/written together, how often, by what key).
• Cardinalities and growth expectations per relationship.
• Tenancy/ownership model (../../backend/ownership-authorization).

Discovery Questions

• For each relationship: is the child data always read with the parent (embed signal) or accessed independently/shared across parents (reference signal)?
• What are the array growth bounds — can any embedded list grow unbounded (order items: bounded; log entries: unbounded)?
• Which fields genuinely vary across documents (the MongoDB justification), and which are actually uniform?
• What must be atomic — single-document updates (natural) or cross-document (needs transactions and is a design smell in volume)?

Responsibilities

• Decide embed vs reference per relationship from access patterns:
  • Embed: read/written as a unit with the parent, bounded size, not independently queried across parents.
  • Reference: shared entities, unbounded/large collections, independently accessed or updated data.
• Design document shape per collection: _id strategy, required core fields vs the genuinely variable part (name the variable part explicitly — a attributes/payload region, not chaos everywhere).
• Bound growth: no unbounded embedded arrays (16MB limit and rewrite cost are real) — bucket, paginate into child collections, or reference.
• Make duplication deliberate: denormalized snapshots (e.g. product name on an order) vs live references — each duplication has an update-propagation owner or an explicit "snapshot, never updated" ruling.
• Add schema validation (JSON Schema on collections and/or mongoose-mongodb schemas): required fields, types, enums — variability is scoped, not total.
• Keep single-document atomicity as the default write model; flag cross-document invariants to transactions.
• Tenancy: tenant key on every scoped document, in every query and index (indexing, ownership-authorization).

Required Workflow

1. List entities, relationships, cardinalities, and the concrete access patterns.
2. Decide embed vs reference per relationship with the growth bound stated.
3. Draft collection shapes: core fields, variable regions, _id, tenant keys.
4. Record every duplication with its consistency story.
5. Define collection-level validation.
6. Hand off to mongoose-mongodb (or native driver plan) + indexing.

Decision Rules

• Access patterns decide, not object-model aesthetics: model the queries, not the class diagram.
• If most relationships end up referenced and queries keep joining ($lookup everywhere), the domain is relational — say so (database-selection).
• Snapshot-vs-live is a business decision (does the old order show the old price?) — get it answered, don't guess.
• Unbounded growth → separate collection, no exceptions.

Rules

• Every collection has written validation for its stable core.
• Every duplication is recorded with propagation-or-snapshot ruling.
• Cross-document atomic needs are flagged, not silently assumed.

Anti-Patterns

• Designing documents as normalized tables (reference-everything) and re-implementing joins in app code.
• Unbounded embedded arrays (comments, events, logs inside a parent doc).
• "Flexible schema" as an excuse for undesigned, inconsistent field names/types across documents.
• Duplicated data with no owner — stale copies discovered by customers.
• Skipping validation because Mongo doesn't demand it.

Validation Checklist

• Access patterns documented per entity.
• Embed/reference decided per relationship with growth bounds.
• Collection shapes: core vs variable regions, _id, tenant keys.
• Duplications recorded with consistency ownership.
• Collection validation defined.
• Cross-document atomicity needs flagged to transactions.

Definition of Done

A recorded document design — per-relationship embed/reference decisions tied to access patterns, bounded shapes with validation, owned duplications, tenancy keys — ready for the data layer and indexing.

Related Skills

database-selection, mongoose-mongodb, indexing, transactions, concurrency, database-security, ../../backend/ownership-authorization, data-migration (reshaping later).

Related Knowledge

../../../knowledge/ (access patterns, snapshot rulings).

Related References

../../../references/database/schema/ (collection sketches, when populated).

Context Loading Guidance

• Requires: domain model, access patterns with volumes, tenancy model.
• Does not require: Mongoose syntax, driver options, app code.
• May load: mongoose-mongodb (expression), indexing (query keys).
• Stop when: collection designs + duplication ledger are recorded.

Token Efficiency Guidance

The relationship table (parent, child, access pattern, embed/reference, bound, duplication ruling) is the deliverable; example documents beat prose, one per collection.