# Choose a database

A step of the [Cloud application](https://gradus.kazet.blog/tree/cloud-application) tree on Gradus, in the Data & storage area: DB, cache, queues.

Page: https://gradus.kazet.blog/tree/cloud-application/step/choose-database

Recommend a database for this product: options that fit the first journey and its likely scale, one recommendation, one decision record. Nothing installed yet.

Usually comes after: [First deploy](https://gradus.kazet.blog/tree/cloud-application/step/first-deploy).

Leads to: [Managed Postgres](https://gradus.kazet.blog/tree/cloud-application/step/db-postgres-provision), [Document database](https://gradus.kazet.blog/tree/cloud-application/step/db-document-provision), [Data access layer & seed data](https://gradus.kazet.blog/tree/cloud-application/step/data-access-layer).

## Prompt for your AI assistant

```
Read docs/index.md, everything under docs/product and docs/decisions. For this product's primary database, propose three options that fit the first journey, its likely first-year scale and my experience (ask me at most two questions if that is not written down): a managed relational database, a document database and anything else that fits better. For each say what it is good at, what it costs to run at near-zero traffic and how hard it is to leave. Recommend one and why, then write the next docs/decisions record for the database with context, options, decision and consequences. Install nothing yet.
```

Every step of the tree: https://gradus.kazet.blog/tree/cloud-application/llms.txt