{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Database School","title":"Strictly typed SQL with Contra CTO, Gajus Kuizinas","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/6990b708\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3590,"description":"In this episode, Gajus Kuizinas, co-founder and CTO of Contra, joins Aaron to talk about building the engineering world you want to live in, from strict runtime-validated SQL with Slonik to creating high-ownership engineering cultures. They dive into developer experience, runtime assertions, SafeQL, and even “Loom-driven development,” a powerful review process that lets teams move fast without breaking things.\nFollow Gajus:\nTwitter/X:  https://twitter.com/kuizinas\nSlonk: https://github.com/gajus/slonik\nScaling article: https://gajus.medium.com/lessons-learned-scaling-postgresql-database-to-1-2bn-records-month-edc5449b3067\nFollow Aaron:\nTwitter/X:  https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis \nDatabase School: https://databaseschool.com\nDatabase School YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCT3XN4RtcFhmrWl8tf_o49g  (Subscribe today)\nLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarondfrancis\nWebsite: https://aaronfrancis.com - find articles, podcasts, courses, and more.\nChapters:\n00:00 – Introduction\n01:03 – Meet Gajus and Contra\n01:48 – What Contra does and how it’s different\n05:34 – Why Slonik exists & early career origins\n07:47 – The early Node.js era and frustrations with ORMs\n09:50 – SQL vs abstractions and the case for raw SQL\n10:35 – Template tags and the breakthrough idea\n12:03 – Strictness, catching errors early & data shape guarantees\n13:37 – Runtime type checking, Zod, and performance debates\n16:02 – SafeQL and real-time schema linting\n17:01 – Synthesizing Slonik’s philosophy\n21:29 – Handling drift, static types vs reality\n22:52 – Defining schemas per-query & why it matters\n27:59 – Integrating runtime types with large test suites\n31:00 – Scaling the team and performance tradeoffs\n33:41 – Runtime validation cost vs developer productivity\n35:21 – Real drift examples from payments & external APIs\n38:21 – User roles, data shape differences & edge cases\n39:51 – Integration test safety & catching issues pre-deploy\n40:52 – Contra’s engineering culture\n41:47 – Why traditional...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/QPpKhRBWtM56k1sC7Y7j7aqGy8sd-XKWw6mEKgA1jmw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9lMmRl/ZTM5ZTAxOTMzNTgy/MmJmZTA4MWE1ZjMw/YjE4Ny5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}