Database per service

Intent

Make each service the exclusive owner of its data store to reduce coupling and enable independent evolution.

Use when

• You want clear ownership boundaries and independent deployability.
• You can tolerate eventual consistency for cross-service reporting and workflows.

Avoid / watch-outs

• Cross-service queries become harder; use API composition or CQRS/read models instead of shared tables.
• Be explicit about integration semantics (events vs RPC) and data duplication rules.

Skill mapping

• architecture: define data ownership and integration style (events/RPC).
• spec: document data contracts/events and consistency expectations.
• testing: tests that pin consumer-visible behavior under eventual consistency.