Evolving The Data Model

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Adding a DB migration
• A new column/field to a Becca entity in Trilium (add a migration
• New column on notes/attributes
• Add a field to BNote/BAttribute/BBranch

Example prompts

• “add a migration”
• “new column on notes/attributes”
• “ALTER TABLE”
• “/evolving-the-data-model”

Requirements

• Node.js

Workflow steps

2 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1schema.sql parity. Fresh installs run sql.executeScript(schema) and never replay migrations (sql_init.ts:154, also :288 for sync setup). A…
2. 2becca_loader positional misalignment. notes, branches, attributes load via sql.getRawRows(...) (positional arrays) fed to new…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 134a865. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Ships script files (TypeScript), which the agent can run.

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • pnpm

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use pnpm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Evolving The Data Model loads about 2.1k tokens when it runs, and up to ~4.8k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 165 tokens; SKILL.md has 759 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~165

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.1k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~4.8k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from TriliumNext/Trilium at commit 134a865, republished under its AGPL-3.0 licence (© TriliumNext). 759 words, ~2,117 tokens.

name

evolving-the-data-model

description

Use when adding a DB migration or a new column/field to a Becca entity in Trilium ("add a migration", "new column on notes/attributes", "ALTER TABLE", "add a field to BNote/BAttribute/BBranch", schema change). Migrations are NOT dated .sql files — they are integer-versioned entries in the DESCENDING MIGRATIONS array in packages/trilium-core/src/migrations/migrations.ts (dbVersion is auto-derived from MIGRATIONS[0]), and the schema lives at packages/trilium-core/src/assets/schema.sql. Covers the full file chain for a column-add, the hashedProperties cross-instance sync-hash hazard, CLS-wrapped JS migrations, and the spec harness.

// migrations.ts — TOP of the MIGRATIONS array
{
    version: 241,
    sql: /*sql*/`
        ALTER TABLE notes ADD COLUMN color TEXT DEFAULT '' NOT NULL;
    `,
    ignoreErrors: true
},

pnpm --filter server test packages/trilium-core/src/migrations/0233__migrate_geo_map_to_collection.spec.ts

© TriliumNext, AGPL-3.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 5 other files (references, assets) in .claude/skills/evolving-the-data-model of TriliumNext/Trilium.

• SKILL.md
• assets/0NNN__migration.template.ts
• assets/migration-spec.template.ts
• assets/sql-migration.snippet.md
• references/column-add-checklist.md
• references/sync-hash-hazard.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 134a865