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Database Prefixes

GoPress supports WordPress-style table prefixes so multiple GoPress instances can share one PostgreSQL database while keeping data isolated.

Naming Rules

Owner Format Example
Core table {prefix}{table} gp_contents, gp_users, gp_options
Plugin table {prefix}plgn_{slug}_{table} gp_plgn_multilang_translations
Theme table {prefix}thm_{slug}_{table} gp_thm_financial-news_tickers

{prefix} comes from [pg] table_prefix; the default is gp_.

Usage

import "go-press/pkg/dbprefix"

dbprefix.Table("contents")
dbprefix.PluginTable("multilang", "translations")
dbprefix.ThemeTable("financial-news", "tickers")

core.RegisterPluginTable("multilang", "translations")
core.RegisterThemeTable("financial-news", "tickers")

Safety Layers

GoPress uses two safeguards:

  1. A custom GORM naming strategy.
  2. Explicit TableName() methods on models where needed.

This prevents common ORM paths from accidentally bypassing the prefix contract.

Multiple Instances

[pg]
database = "shared"
table_prefix = "blog_"

Another site can use the same database with a different prefix such as shop_.

Such sites can also share one Redis database. Cache keys are isolated by [redis].namespace, which is derived from the database connection and table_prefix when unset, so sites with different prefixes never read or clear each other's cache. See Configuration.

Indexes and Prefixes

PostgreSQL index names are unique per schema, not per table. A fixed index name in a model (for example uniqueIndex:idx_user_identity_key) lands only on the first site in the schema to migrate. GORM creates indexes with CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS, so the same table under every other prefix is skipped silently and loses its uniqueness guarantee.

Core's dbschema.AutoMigrate(db, models...) checks each of the current site's tables after GORM AutoMigrate. When a table lacks an index equivalent to the declaration (same column order, uniqueness, and full or partial coverage), it creates a site-owned index named after the table plus the declared name, truncated with a short hash beyond 63 characters. It only adds indexes, never drops or renames them, so the previous binary still runs on the repaired database. If existing duplicate rows block a unique index, it logs a warning and retries on the next start instead of preventing the site from booting; the uniqueness protection takes effect once the duplicates are cleaned up.

Core tables already use this. Plugins that declare fixed index names should migrate with dbschema.AutoMigrate instead of calling db.AutoMigrate directly.

Table Registry

The table registry records table ownership for admin database tooling, future uninstall workflows, and debugging.