Mix simple fields like text and IDs with complex ones like arrays and JSON blobs in your no-code database. Simple fields give you clear identifiers; complex fields let you store relationships and external data without redesigning later. You build faster and keep tables readable.
Chapters
When designing databases in a no-code environment, I encourage people to make a mix of complicated and simple fields. So like a simple field would be like the primary key, which is a number or a string, like a label, which could just be a string, a message, whatever. But then to leave room, say, and then we can have complicated fields. So if you have a many-to-one relationship, have an array of IDs that go to another table, as opposed to just using it like an old-school relationship table. Or if you're caching data like from a third-party service, cache all the data that came back. Use like a JSON field to be able to access that information as well. This leaves you more options later on. So instead of creating a large table that has all sorts of simple fields in it to cover every possible use case, you can have a couple of complex fields like that JSON table, JSON field to capture everything and make better use of it. This allows you to be simpler and faster as you're building these tables, making use of the new technology available today that wasn't available before.