diff --git a/src/main/resources/db/migration/V4.0.0__cryostat.sql b/src/main/resources/db/migration/V4.0.0__cryostat.sql
index d852656e8..8be4df1c5 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/db/migration/V4.0.0__cryostat.sql
+++ b/src/main/resources/db/migration/V4.0.0__cryostat.sql
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
         maxAge bigint not null,
         maxSize bigint not null,
         metadata jsonb,
-        name varchar(255),
+        name text check (char_length(name) < 64),
         remoteId bigint not null,
         startTime bigint not null,
         state smallint check (state between 0 and 4),
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@
     create table DiscoveryNode (
         id bigint not null,
         labels jsonb,
-        name varchar(255) not null,
-        nodeType varchar(255) not null,
+        name text not null check (char_length(name) < 255),
+        nodeType text not null check (char_length(nodeType) < 255),
         parentNode bigint,
         primary key (id)
     );
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
     create table DiscoveryPlugin (
         id uuid not null,
         builtin boolean not null,
-        callback varchar(255) unique,
+        callback text unique,
         credential_id bigint unique,
         realm_id bigint not null unique,
         primary key (id)
@@ -57,20 +57,20 @@
 
     create table MatchExpression (
         id bigint not null,
-        script varchar(255) not null,
+        script text not null check (char_length(script) < 1024),
         primary key (id)
     );
 
     create table Rule (
         id bigint not null,
         archivalPeriodSeconds integer not null,
-        description varchar(255),
+        description text check (char_length(description) < 1024),
         enabled boolean not null,
-        eventSpecifier varchar(255) not null,
+        eventSpecifier text not null check (char_length(eventSpecifier) < 255),
         initialDelaySeconds integer not null,
         maxAgeSeconds integer not null,
         maxSizeBytes integer not null,
-        name varchar(255) unique,
+        name text unique check (char_length(name) < 255),
         preservedArchives integer not null,
         matchExpression bigint unique,
         primary key (id)
@@ -78,10 +78,10 @@
 
     create table Target (
         id bigint not null,
-        alias varchar(255),
+        alias text check (char_length(alias) < 255),
         annotations jsonb,
         connectUrl bytea unique,
-        jvmId varchar(255),
+        jvmId text check (char_length(jvmId) < 255),
         labels jsonb,
         discoveryNode bigint unique,
         primary key (id)
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/cryostat/rules/RulesTest.java b/src/test/java/io/cryostat/rules/RulesTest.java
index 189894b44..35de1949e 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/cryostat/rules/RulesTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/cryostat/rules/RulesTest.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;
 
+import java.util.Arrays;
+
 import io.cryostat.AbstractTransactionalTestBase;
 
 import io.quarkus.test.common.http.TestHTTPEndpoint;
@@ -30,6 +32,8 @@
 import jakarta.transaction.Transactional;
 import org.hamcrest.Matchers;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
 
 @QuarkusTest
@@ -244,6 +248,20 @@ public void testCreateThrowsWhenBodyNull() {
                 .statusCode(400);
     }
 
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(ints = {1, 16, 64, 128, 256})
+    public void testCreateThrowsWhenNameTooLong(int len) {
+        char[] c = new char[len];
+        Arrays.fill(c, 'a');
+        rule.put("name", new String(c));
+        final int limit = 255;
+        given().body(rule.toString())
+                .contentType(ContentType.JSON)
+                .post()
+                .then()
+                .statusCode(len <= limit ? 201 : 400);
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testCreateThrowsWhenMandatoryFieldsUnspecified() {
         var badRule = new JsonObject();