SDB101[critical]Destructive

Table dropped

Dropping a table that already exists deletes its data.

Why it's risky in PostgreSQL

DROP TABLE removes the table and every row in it. Running application code that still reads the table will start failing immediately.

Ship the code change that stops using the table first, keep the data for a release, then drop it in a later migration.

What triggers it, and the safer way

unsafe.sql

DROP TABLE legacy_orders;

safer.sql

-- Release 1: stop reading/writing legacy_orders in the app
-- Release 2 (after a backup):
-- shadowdb:allow SDB101 unused since release 41, backup taken
DROP TABLE legacy_orders;

Suppress it when you're sure

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suppression

-- shadowdb:allow SDB101 <why this is safe here>

Applies to PostgreSQL 14, 15, 16, 17.