November 10, 2025

Recursive CTEs: stop writing nested loops for trees

Hi there,

This week we go deeper into CTEs — the part your tooling politely ignores.
Recursive CTEs let you traverse trees and hierarchies cleanly, with one query, and without writing a tangle of loops.

→ Read now:
Recursive CTEs — Because writing nested loops for trees is psychopathic (and a little masochistic)

Why this matters

• Model org charts, categories, dependency trees without app-side loops
• Keep logic declarative and testable
• Works across major databases you already use

“Readable. Recursive. Realistic.”
This is Part 2 of the 3-part series on the SQL your ORM won’t tell you about.

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📚 Previously on Efficient Laziness

• Part 1 — CTEs 101 (readable & maintainable SQL):
  Your ORM is Lying to You About SQL (CTEs Explained)
• Related — Choosing a vector database without the hype:
  From Zero to 1-B Vectors: The 2025 No-BS Picking Guide

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Next up: Part 3 Using CTEs When Your ORM Says No (The Lazy Developer's Survival Guide).

Efficient Laziness — Think once, well, and move forward.