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home / developersection / interviews / how would you design an indexeddb schema for a multi-user offline application (eg. note-taking app)?
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Ponu Maurya
Ponu Maurya

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Ponu Maurya
Ponu Maurya 06 Jul 2025
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Designing an IndexedDB schema for a multi-user offline note-taking app requires a structure that supports:

  • Multiple users
  • Multiple notes per user
  • Sync and status tracking
  • Efficient querying (e.g., by user, tags, sync state)

Recommended Object Store Schema

We’ll define three object stores:

1. users – Stores basic user info

{
  "id": "user123",
  "name": "Alice",
  "email": "alice@example.com"
}

2. notes – Stores each note

{
  "id": "note456",
  "userId": "user123",          // Foreign key to users
  "title": "Shopping List",
  "content": "Milk, Eggs, Bread",
  "createdAt": 1725138000000,
  "updatedAt": 1725139000000,
  "synced": false,
  "tags": ["shopping", "todo"]
}

3. tags (optional) – For global tagging/filters

{
  "name": "shopping",
  "color": "#FFD700"
}

Object Store Design

Store Name Key Path Indexes Purpose
users id email (unique) Auth, ownership
notes id userId, updatedAt, synced Note lookup, syncing, sorting
tags name none Optional visual tagging

Schema Setup (in onupgradeneeded)

const db = event.target.result;

// users
const userStore = db.createObjectStore("users", { keyPath: "id" });
userStore.createIndex("email", "email", { unique: true });

// notes
const noteStore = db.createObjectStore("notes", { keyPath: "id" });
noteStore.createIndex("userId", "userId");
noteStore.createIndex("updatedAt", "updatedAt");
noteStore.createIndex("synced", "synced");

// tags (optional)
const tagStore = db.createObjectStore("tags", { keyPath: "name" });

Sync Support Example

To support sync with a server:

  • Use a synced flag (true/false)
  • Use updatedAt timestamp for conflict resolution
  • Optionally include isDeleted for soft-deletes

Example Queries

Query How to Perform
Get all notes for user X notes.index("userId").getAll("user123")
Get unsynced notes notes.index("synced").getAll(false)
Get notes updated after a date Use IDBKeyRange.lowerBound(timestamp)
Sort notes by update time Use updatedAt index with cursor

Extra Considerations

Feature Suggestion
Encryption Use Web Crypto API for secure note content
Data expiration Add lastOpenedAt and prune unused accounts
Multi-device sync Store a remoteId or rev to map local-to-server sync
Conflict resolution Track updatedAt, userId, and deviceId if needed

Final Tip

Wrap all IndexedDB operations in a Promise-based helper or use a library like:

  • idb
  • Dexie.js
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