Couchbase N1QL is a query processing engine tailored for executing SQL-like queries on JSON data within distributed databases, leveraging a flexible data model. N1QL facilitates enhanced SQL capabilities for JSON, including efficient grouping and aggregation operations, particularly with Couchbase 5.5, which optimizes these processes by performing them at the indexer level. This enhancement reduces data transfer and disk I/O, leading to improved query response times, resource utilization, and scalability, thereby lowering the total cost of ownership. Index design is crucial for maximizing these benefits, with the capability to perform complex operations like COUNT, SUM, MIN, MAX, and AVG directly on the indexer. However, not every query benefits from this optimization, and understanding the right patterns is essential for effective index and query design. This feature, available in the Enterprise Edition, supports both Standard GSI and Memory Optimized GSI storage engines, and its performance improvements are particularly significant as data and query complexities increase.