track: where data lives

6 articles · newest first

Flat illustration of a person carrying a copy of a database from an empty safe to a second safe

Backups, and losing everything: the copy you'll need once

Lesson 6 of where your data lives: what a backup actually is, what your plan does and doesn't do for you, and the Replit story that made it real.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

Flat illustration of an open box containing a database cylinder, a key, a folder and a small server, with a person looking in

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What is Supabase? The backend-in-a-box, explained

Lesson 5 of where your data lives: the service behind a huge share of AI-built apps. What's inside the box, what's free, and what it asks of you.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

Flat illustration of a person holding a magnifying glass over a table where only some rows light up

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What is a query? Asking the database a question

Lesson 3 of where your data lives: how your app asks for exactly the rows it wants, and what happens when the question has no "only".

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

Flat illustration of a person arranging coloured blocks into neat rows and columns on a big board

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Tables, rows and columns: the shape of your data

Lesson 2 of where your data lives: how a database lays things out, why every column has a type, and the one column that connects everything.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

Flat illustration of a tidy set of labelled filing drawers with a person filing a card into one

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What is a database? Where your app keeps things

Lesson 1 of where your data lives: the organised place your app puts every sign-up, order and message, and why it isn't just a spreadsheet.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

Flat illustration of two people each looking through their own window at a table, each seeing only their own coloured rows

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Row Level Security explained (with a picture): the setting that matters

The one database setting behind the biggest vibe-coded app exposures, shown as a table: who sees what with RLS off, who sees what with it on, and the policy your AI tool should be writing.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 7 min