1. guides
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  1. guides

Indexes & constraints

Indexes and constraints can be declared on the model, so sync() creates them
with the table, or applied imperatively at runtime through the connection and
the dialect. This guide covers both, the SQL each produces, and the places
where a dialect refuses or rewrites what you asked for.

Declaring on the model#

const User = prorm.define(
  'User',
  {
    id:     { type: DataTypes.INTEGER(), primaryKey: true, autoIncrement: true },
    orgId:  { type: DataTypes.INTEGER(), references: { model: 'orgs', key: 'id', onDelete: 'CASCADE', onUpdate: 'RESTRICT' } },
    email:  { type: DataTypes.STRING(100) },
    name:   { type: DataTypes.STRING(50) },
    status: { type: DataTypes.STRING(20) },
    age:    { type: DataTypes.INTEGER() },
  },
  {
    tableName: 'users',
    indexes: [
      { fields: ['name'] },
      { name: 'idx_status_age', fields: ['status', 'age'] },
      { name: 'uq_name', fields: ['name'], unique: true },
    ],
    constraints: [
      { type: ConstraintType.Check,  name: 'ck_age', check: { age: { gte: 0 } } },
      { type: ConstraintType.Unique, name: 'uq_org_email', fields: ['orgId', 'email'] },
    ],
  },
);
sync() emits the same structure on every SQL dialect, spelled the way each
one wants it:
The differences are the dialect's, not yours: SERIAL against AUTOINCREMENT,
TIMESTAMP against DATETIME, and IF NOT EXISTS on SQLite's indexes but not
on PostgreSQL's.
Constraints are folded into the CREATE TABLE; indexes follow as separate
statements. An unnamed index is named idx_<table>_<first field>.
A CHECK predicate is a where object — the same syntax a query takes,
compiled for whichever dialect you are on, with its values inlined as escaped
literals because CREATE TABLE carries no parameter list. Comparisons against
another column or a function go through the expression helpers:
import { ConstraintType, col, fn, literalExpr } from 'ts-prorm-orm';

constraints: [
  { type: ConstraintType.Check, name: 'ck_dates',  check: { ends_at: { gt: col('starts_at') } } },
  { type: ConstraintType.Check, name: 'ck_status', check: { status: { in: ['draft', 'live'] } } },
  { type: ConstraintType.Check, name: 'ck_seen',   check: { seen_at: { lte: fn('NOW') } } },
]
A raw SQL string is still accepted for a predicate the compiler does not model,
but it is the escape hatch rather than the way in — see
SQL constants and enums for ConstraintType and the rest
of the named vocabularies.

Index options#

OptionEffect
fieldsColumn list. Composite indexes list several.
nameIndex name; defaults to idx_<table>_<field>.
uniqueCREATE UNIQUE INDEX.
expressionIndex an expression instead of columns: ((LOWER(email))).
usingIndex method — GIN, GIST, BTREE, HASH (PostgreSQL/MySQL).
includeCovering-index payload columns (PostgreSQL 11+, MySQL).
typeDialect index type keyword.
parserMySQL/MariaDB full-text parser.
tablespace, storageParametersPostgreSQL storage placement and knobs.
nullsNotDistinctNULLS NOT DISTINCT on a unique index (PostgreSQL 15+).
ifNotExistsSuppress the "already exists" error.
wherePartial index predicate — see the caveat below.
Partial indexes work from the model declaration:
indexes: [{ name: 'idx_active', fields: ['status'], where: { status: 'active' } }]
UnsupportedSchemaObjectError: Partial (filtered) index is not supported on mysql. mysql has
no WHERE clause on CREATE INDEX - index the whole table, or index a generated/expression column
that encodes the predicate.
Because CREATE INDEX is executed with no parameter list, the predicate's values
are compiled as escaped literals rather than bound placeholders — through the
dialect's own escape()/escapeId(), so a value containing a quote is doubled
('O''Brien') and cannot break out of the literal.
Supported predicate forms: { col: value }, { col: [...] } (→ IN),
Op.eq/ne/gt/gte/lt/lte/in/notIn/between/notBetween/like/
notLike/is/not/isNull/isNotNull/col, and nested Op.and/Op.or/
Op.not. Anything else throws, naming the operator. A where given as a plain
string passes through verbatim, which is the escape hatch for a predicate the
compiler does not model.
DialectPartial index
SQLite, Turso, PostgreSQL, CockroachDB, Greenplum, TimescaleDB, YugabyteDBsupported
SQL Serversupported (a filtered index)
MariaDB, Oracle, Db2, SAP HANA, ClickHouse, MySQL, DuckDB, Vertica, Firebird, Exasolthrows UnsupportedSchemaObjectError
Spannerwarns and ignores the predicate
Snowflake, Redshift, Trino, CrateDBno indexes at all
The throwing dialects previously either appended a WHERE clause the engine has
never accepted (MariaDB, Oracle) or silently dropped it and handed back an
unfiltered index (Db2, SAP HANA, ClickHouse) — the second being the more
dangerous, since the index looked declared and covered every row. They now
explain the problem instead:
Partial (filtered) index is not supported on mariadb. mariadb has no WHERE
clause on CREATE INDEX - index the whole table, or index a generated/expression
column that encodes the predicate.
createPartialIndex(table, name, fields, predicate) still takes the predicate as
a literal string, if you would rather write it yourself.

Constraint options#

OptionEffect
type'PRIMARY KEY', 'UNIQUE', 'FOREIGN KEY', 'CHECK'.
name / constraintNameConstraint name.
fieldsColumns the constraint covers.
checkPredicate for a CHECK, as a literal SQL string.
references{ model, field, onDelete, onUpdate, match, deferrable } for a FOREIGN KEY.
deferrableINITIALLY DEFERRED / INITIALLY IMMEDIATE / NOT DEFERRABLE (PostgreSQL).

Composite uniqueness#

Three declaration forms all work and all normalise to the same table constraint:
// 1. attribute-level grouping — columns sharing a uniqueKey form one constraint
const byAttribute = {
  orgId: { type: DataTypes.INTEGER(), uniqueKey: 'uq_org_email' },
  email: { type: DataTypes.STRING(100), uniqueKey: 'uq_org_email' },
};

// 2. model-level
const byModel = { uniqueKeys: [{ name: 'uq_org_email', fields: ['orgId', 'email'] }] };

// 3. the constraints option
const byConstraint = {
  constraints: [{ type: 'UNIQUE', name: 'uq_org_email', fields: ['orgId', 'email'] }],
};
De-duplication is by constraint name and by order-independent column set, so
declaring the same key two ways yields one constraint, not two. A key naming an
unknown column throws with the list of known columns rather than vanishing.
UniqueKeyOptions.unique: true produces a unique index instead, which is what
that flag documents.
Column names resolve through field / underscored, falling back to the
attribute name when the rename is not among the columns CREATE TABLE actually
emitted — otherwise the constraint would name a column that does not exist.
sync({ alter: true }) used to destroy these. SQLite implements
changeColumn by rebuilding the table, and the rebuild dropped the UNIQUE
clause — so one alter silently un-enforced a key the model still declared.
Declared keys are now re-applied as unique indexes after an alter (idempotent
across re-syncs). Keys the model no longer declares are not dropped, and
the re-apply fails loudly if existing rows already violate a newly declared
key.

Uniqueness on a single column#

The attribute-level shorthand is the simplest form and is emitted inline:
const attributes = { email: { type: DataTypes.STRING(255), allowNull: false, unique: true } };
A violation surfaces as a UniqueConstraintError; pass
unique: { name: 'uq_email', msg: 'That email is taken' } to control the
message. See Error handling.

Foreign keys#

A foreign key is declared on the column that holds it, with the referential
actions nested inside references:
const attributes = {
  orgId: {
    type: DataTypes.INTEGER(),
    references: { model: 'orgs', key: 'id', onDelete: 'CASCADE', onUpdate: 'RESTRICT' },
  },
};
onDelete / onUpdate written as siblings of references are ignored —
they must be inside it. On MySQL, MariaDB and TiDB the same declaration becomes
a table-level FOREIGN KEY (`orgId`) REFERENCES `orgs` (`id`) ON DELETE CASCADE ON UPDATE RESTRICT,
which InnoDB enforces (it ignores the column-level form);
before 4.9.2 those engines got the column-level form and no foreign key.
Associations also contribute foreign keys during sync(); see
Associations. The foreign-key
column's type is derived from the column it references, so a UUID primary key
produces a UUID child column rather than an INTEGER one.
Foreign-key enforcement can be toggled around a bulk load:
await prorm.disableForeignKeyChecks();
// … load data in any order …
await prorm.enableForeignKeyChecks();
In a real load, turn the checks back on in a finally, so a failed batch does
not leave the session with enforcement off — and verify afterwards, because
re-enabling the checks does not re-check rows loaded while they were off:
import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';

const orgs = JSON.parse(readFileSync('./export/orgs.json', 'utf8'));
const users = JSON.parse(readFileSync('./export/users.json', 'utf8'));

await prorm.disableForeignKeyChecks();
try {
  // Children before parents is fine while the checks are off.
  await prorm.getQueryInterface().bulkInsert('users', users);
  await prorm.getQueryInterface().bulkInsert('orgs', orgs);
} finally {
  await prorm.enableForeignKeyChecks();
}

// SQLite: list every row whose parent is missing. Empty means the load is sound.
const orphans = await prorm.query('PRAGMA foreign_key_check');
if (orphans.length > 0) throw new Error(`${orphans.length} rows reference missing parents`);
Dialect familySQL emitted
SQLite, TursoPRAGMA foreign_keys = OFF / ON
MySQL, MariaDB, TiDBSET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS = 0 / 1
PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB, Greenplum, YugabyteDB, CockroachDBSET session_replication_role = 'replica' / 'origin'
everything elsethrows UnsupportedForeignKeyChecksError
The PostgreSQL form needs superuser, or GRANT SET ON PARAMETER session_replication_role on PG 15+. That is deliberately not swallowed — the
server's permission denied to set parameter surfaces so you know the checks
were never actually disabled.
Dialects with no session-level switch name their alternative instead of emitting
something invalid:
Session-level foreign key checks are not supported on mssql.
Use ALTER TABLE <table> NOCHECK CONSTRAINT ALL …
SQL Server → NOCHECK CONSTRAINT ALL, Oracle → DISABLE CONSTRAINT, Db2 →
SET INTEGRITY; Redshift, Snowflake, ClickHouse, SingleStore and Databricks say
they never enforce foreign keys at all.
getDisableForeignKeyChecksSQL() / getEnableForeignKeyChecksSQL() return the
statement without running it. MySQL/MariaDB additionally have
disableUniqueKeyChecks() / enableUniqueKeyChecks() (SET UNIQUE_CHECKS = 0/1); those stay deliberate no-ops elsewhere, since SET UNIQUE_CHECKS is a
MySQL bulk-load optimisation with no equivalent — throwing would break the
bulk-load pattern everywhere else for no benefit.

Changing indexes and constraints at runtime#

On the connection:
await prorm.addIndex('users', 'idx_age', ['age']);
await prorm.removeIndex('users', 'idx_age');
await prorm.addColumn('users', 'nickname', { type: DataTypes.STRING(50) });
await prorm.changeColumn('users', 'nickname', { type: DataTypes.STRING(100) });
await prorm.removeColumn('users', 'nickname');
await prorm.renameTable('users', 'people');
await prorm.describeTable('users');
The first four calls emit the following, here against a users table with
id, orgId, email, status and age, the ck_age and uq_org_email
constraints, and the idx_status_age and idx_active indexes:
On SQLite, removeColumn and changeColumn rebuild the table, because SQLite
cannot drop or alter a column in place. The rebuild copies the rows and puts the
indexes back.
[!CAUTION]
Compare the rebuilt SQLite table with the original: the REFERENCES "orgs"
clause, CONSTRAINT "ck_age" CHECK and CONSTRAINT "uq_org_email" UNIQUE are
gone. A direct changeColumn() or removeColumn() on SQLite leaves the table
without its foreign keys and table constraints. sync({ alter: true }) puts
declared unique keys back as unique indexes afterwards (below); for anything
else, rebuild the table yourself in a migration — create the new table with
every constraint, copy, drop, rename — rather than altering it.
The same operations are available on the QueryInterface
used inside migrations.

Adding an index to a live table#

addIndex emits a plain CREATE INDEX, which on PostgreSQL locks the table
against writes until the build finishes — minutes, on a big table. PostgreSQL's
CONCURRENTLY builds without that lock but refuses to run inside a transaction
block. The prorm migrator does not open one, so a migration can issue it
through prormQuery:
[!WARNING]
A CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY that fails part-way leaves an invalid index
behind, and IF NOT EXISTS will then skip it on the next run. Check
pg_index.indisvalid after a failure and drop the invalid index before
retrying.

Dialect index helpers#

Beyond addIndex, each dialect exposes the index kinds it actually supports.
Reach them through prorm.getDialectInstance().
MethodPurpose
createIndex / dropIndexPlain index.
createPartialIndex(table, name, fields, predicate)Index with a literal WHERE predicate.
createExpressionIndex(table, name, expression)CREATE INDEX … (LOWER(body)).
createFulltextIndex(table, name, fields)Dialect-native full-text index.
createSpatialIndex(...)GiST / SPATIAL / RTree index.
createGINIndex, createGISTIndex, createVectorIndexPostgreSQL-specific.
addConstraint / removeConstraintConstraint on an existing table.
showIndexes(table) / showConstraints(table)Introspection.
The dialect helpers take SQL, because they are the layer below the one that
compiles it. From the query interface the same index is declared with the
expression helpers and no SQL at all:
import { fn, col } from 'ts-prorm-orm';

await qi.addIndex('docs', [], { name: 'idx_lower_body', expression: fn('LOWER', col('body')) });
// CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS "idx_lower_body" ON "docs" ((LOWER("body")))

const dialect = prorm.getDialectInstance();
await dialect.createExpressionIndex('docs', 'idx_lower_body', 'LOWER(body)');   // the raw form
SQLite refuses what it genuinely cannot do, with an explanation rather than
broken SQL:
addConstraint type "CHECK" cannot be added to an existing SQLite table;
define it when the table is created (SQLite only supports UNIQUE via a unique
index post-hoc).

Full-text indexes#

buildCreateFullTextIndexSQL(options, dialect, quoteId, quoteTable) resolves
one declaration into whatever the engine actually needs:
import { buildCreateFullTextIndexSQL } from 'ts-prorm-orm';

const q = (i: string) => `"${i}"`;
buildCreateFullTextIndexSQL(
  { name: 'ft_docs', table: 'docs', columns: ['title', 'body'] },
  'postgres', q, q,
);
DialectSQL
PostgreSQLCREATE INDEX "ft_docs" ON "docs" USING GIN (to_tsvector('english', coalesce("title",'') || ' ' || coalesce("body",'')))
MySQL / MariaDBCREATE FULLTEXT INDEX "ft_docs" ON "docs" ("title", "body")
SQLiteCREATE VIRTUAL TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "ft_docs" USING fts5("title", "body", content="docs")
SQL Serverthrows UnsupportedSchemaObjectError — needs a full-text catalog and unique key index first
Oraclethrows UnsupportedSchemaObjectError
language selects the PostgreSQL text-search configuration (default
'english'). The thrown error is deliberate: it tells you the operation is
impossible on that engine instead of emitting SQL the driver will reject.

Primary keys#

Single-column primary keys are declared on the attribute. Composite keys are
declared on the model:
prorm.define('Membership', {
  userId: { type: DataTypes.INTEGER() },
  teamId: { type: DataTypes.INTEGER() },
  role:   { type: DataTypes.STRING(20) },
}, { primaryKey: ['userId', 'teamId'] });
Model.getPrimaryKeyAttribute() reports the resolved key, and it is what
findByPk and findInBatches iterate on.

Related reading#

Defining models
Associations — foreign keys from relationships
Migrations — versioned index/constraint changes
Schema objects — views, triggers, sequences, partitions
Query optimization — checking an index is used
Modified at 2026-10-04 00:40:16
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