Safely making database schema changes

You can safely make database schema changes by adopting smaller, more frequent changes, ensuring backward compatibility at all steps of the process, using feature flags, branching, deploy requests with automated linting and checks for conflicts, non-blocking schema changes, gated deployments, revert features, insights into query performance, and automatic backups. These measures help reduce the risk of downtime and data loss associated with database schema changes, making it easier to release new features regularly while maintaining a stable application.