diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 9a75de4..a86b53f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -75,7 +75,9 @@ jobs:
         run: nimble test -y
 
       - name: Install async_postgres
-        run: nimble install -y
+        run: |
+          rm -rf ~/.nimble/pkgs2/async_postgres-*
+          nimble install -y
 
       - name: Compile examples (asyncdispatch)
         run: for f in examples/*.nim; do nim c "$f"; done
diff --git a/examples/large_object.nim b/examples/large_object.nim
index ef0166d..4157139 100644
--- a/examples/large_object.nim
+++ b/examples/large_object.nim
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ proc main() {.async.} =
       let size = await lo.loSize()
       echo "Size: ", size, " bytes"
 
-  # Streaming read
+  # Streaming read, then clean up in the same transaction
   conn.withTransaction:
     conn.withLargeObject(lo, oid, INV_READ):
       echo "\nStreaming read:"
@@ -45,8 +45,6 @@ proc main() {.async.} =
         echo "  chunk (", data.len, " bytes): ", data.toString()
       await lo.loReadStream(cb, chunkSize = 10)
 
-  # Clean up
-  conn.withTransaction:
     await conn.loUnlink(oid)
     echo "\nDeleted Large Object: oid=", oid
 
diff --git a/examples/pipeline.nim b/examples/pipeline.nim
index 135c4cd..ecb7271 100644
--- a/examples/pipeline.nim
+++ b/examples/pipeline.nim
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ proc main() {.async.} =
       echo "Operation ", i, " (", r.queryResult.rowCount, " rows):"
       for row in r.queryResult.rows:
         var cols: seq[string]
-        for j in 0 ..< r.queryResult.fields.len:
-          cols.add(r.queryResult.fields[j].name & "=" & row.getStr(j))
+        for field in r.queryResult.fields:
+          cols.add(field.name & "=" & row.getStr(field.name))
         echo "  ", cols.join(", ")
 
 waitFor main()
diff --git a/examples/pool.nim b/examples/pool.nim
index 10be154..1192e9e 100644
--- a/examples/pool.nim
+++ b/examples/pool.nim
@@ -9,16 +9,16 @@
 import pkg/async_postgres
 
 proc main() {.async.} =
-  let connConfig = ConnConfig(
-    host: "127.0.0.1",
-    port: 15432,
-    user: "test",
-    password: "test",
-    database: "test",
-    sslMode: sslDisable,
+  let connConfig = initConnConfig(
+    host = "127.0.0.1",
+    port = 15432,
+    user = "test",
+    password = "test",
+    database = "test",
+    sslMode = sslDisable,
   )
 
-  let pool = await newPool(PoolConfig(connConfig: connConfig, minSize: 2, maxSize: 5))
+  let pool = await newPool(initPoolConfig(connConfig, minSize = 2, maxSize = 5))
   defer:
     await pool.close()
 
@@ -41,9 +41,10 @@ proc main() {.async.} =
 
   # Run concurrent queries using withConnection
   proc countExpensive(): Future[int64] {.async.} =
+    let minPrice = 150'i32
     pool.withConnection(conn):
       return await conn.queryValue(
-        int64, "SELECT count(*) FROM products WHERE price > $1", @[toPgParam(150'i32)]
+        int64, sql"SELECT count(*) FROM products WHERE price > {minPrice}"
       )
 
   proc cheapest(): Future[string] {.async.} =
diff --git a/examples/pool_cluster.nim b/examples/pool_cluster.nim
index 0e1b76f..00bfe00 100644
--- a/examples/pool_cluster.nim
+++ b/examples/pool_cluster.nim
@@ -10,17 +10,17 @@
 import pkg/async_postgres
 
 proc main() {.async.} =
-  let connConfig = ConnConfig(
-    host: "127.0.0.1",
-    port: 15432,
-    user: "test",
-    password: "test",
-    database: "test",
-    sslMode: sslDisable,
+  let connConfig = initConnConfig(
+    host = "127.0.0.1",
+    port = 15432,
+    user = "test",
+    password = "test",
+    database = "test",
+    sslMode = sslDisable,
   )
 
-  let primaryConfig = PoolConfig(connConfig: connConfig, minSize: 1, maxSize: 3)
-  let replicaConfig = PoolConfig(connConfig: connConfig, minSize: 1, maxSize: 3)
+  let primaryConfig = initPoolConfig(connConfig, minSize = 1, maxSize = 3)
+  let replicaConfig = initPoolConfig(connConfig, minSize = 1, maxSize = 3)
 
   # fallbackPrimary: if replica is unavailable, fall back to primary for reads
   let cluster =
diff --git a/examples/query_direct.nim b/examples/query_direct.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74977e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/query_direct.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+## Zero-allocation query macros.
+##
+## Demonstrates `queryDirect` and `execDirect`, which encode parameters into
+## the connection's send buffer at compile time. They avoid the intermediate
+## `seq[PgParam]` and per-parameter `seq[byte]` allocations that the regular
+## `query` / `exec` path incurs, making them suitable for hot paths where
+## SQL is a literal and parameters are scalars.
+##
+## Constraints (vs. regular `query` / `exec`):
+## - SQL must be a string literal or compile-time constant.
+## - Arguments are positional (`$1, $2, …`) — no `{expr}` sugar.
+## - No `timeout` parameter.
+## - Same per-connection statement cache as `query` / `exec`; the statement
+##   is parsed once server-side and rebound on subsequent calls.
+##
+## Usage:
+##   nim c -r examples/query_direct.nim
+
+import pkg/async_postgres
+
+const Dsn = "postgresql://test:test@127.0.0.1:15432/test?sslmode=disable"
+
+proc main() {.async.} =
+  let conn = await connect(Dsn)
+  defer:
+    await conn.close()
+
+  discard await conn.exec(
+    """
+    CREATE TEMP TABLE metrics (
+      id serial PRIMARY KEY,
+      host text NOT NULL,
+      cpu float8 NOT NULL,
+      ts int8 NOT NULL
+    )
+  """
+  )
+
+  # execDirect: zero-alloc INSERT in a tight loop. The SQL literal is parsed
+  # once (server-side plan cached), and each call re-binds scalars directly
+  # into the send buffer without heap allocations for the parameter list.
+  let host = "worker-1"
+  for i in 0 ..< 5:
+    let cpu = 0.1 * float64(i)
+    let ts = int64(1_700_000_000 + i)
+    discard await conn.execDirect(
+      "INSERT INTO metrics (host, cpu, ts) VALUES ($1, $2, $3)", host, cpu, ts
+    )
+
+  # queryDirect: zero-alloc read. Returns the same QueryResult shape as `query`.
+  let threshold = 0.2'f64
+  let qr = await conn.queryDirect(
+    "SELECT host, cpu, ts FROM metrics WHERE cpu >= $1 ORDER BY ts", threshold
+  )
+  echo "Rows above ", threshold, ":"
+  for row in qr.rows:
+    echo "  host=",
+      row.getStr("host"), " cpu=", row.getStr("cpu"), " ts=", row.getInt("ts")
+
+  # queryDirect drives `queryValue` the same way: wrap it manually since
+  # `queryValue[T]` takes a regular `seq[PgParam]`. For a single scalar,
+  # `queryDirect` + `rows[0].get(0, T)` is zero-alloc end-to-end.
+  let targetHost = "worker-1"
+  let count = await conn.queryDirect(
+    "SELECT count(*)::int8 FROM metrics WHERE host = $1", targetHost
+  )
+  echo "Rows for ", targetHost, ": ", count.rows[0].get(0, int64)
+
+waitFor main()
diff --git a/examples/query_variants.nim b/examples/query_variants.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b67a82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/query_variants.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+## Query variants example.
+##
+## Demonstrates query convenience procs beyond the basic `query` / `exec` /
+## `queryValue` entry points: optional-result accessors, existence checks,
+## row callbacks, and the simple-protocol variants for session-level commands
+## or multi-statement batches.
+##
+## Usage:
+##   nim c -r examples/query_variants.nim
+
+import std/options
+
+import pkg/async_postgres
+
+const Dsn = "postgresql://test:test@127.0.0.1:15432/test?sslmode=disable"
+
+proc main() {.async.} =
+  let conn = await connect(Dsn)
+  defer:
+    await conn.close()
+
+  # simpleExec: session-level command via the simple query protocol.
+  # Appropriate for SET / VACUUM / single-shot DDL where the extended
+  # protocol's Parse/Bind round trip and plan cache entry would be wasted.
+  discard await conn.simpleExec("SET TIME ZONE 'UTC'")
+
+  discard await conn.exec(
+    """
+    CREATE TEMP TABLE employees (
+      id serial PRIMARY KEY,
+      name text NOT NULL,
+      team text,
+      salary int4
+    )
+  """
+  )
+  discard await conn.exec(
+    """
+    INSERT INTO employees (name, team, salary) VALUES
+      ('Alice',   'platform', 800),
+      ('Bob',     'platform', 650),
+      ('Charlie', 'data',     NULL),
+      ('Dave',    NULL,        700)
+  """
+  )
+
+  # queryExists: boolean "does any row match" without fetching data.
+  let dataTeam = "data"
+  let hasData =
+    await conn.queryExists(sql"SELECT 1 FROM employees WHERE team = {dataTeam}")
+  echo "Has data team? ", hasData
+
+  # queryValueOrDefault: return a fallback when the row or value is NULL.
+  # Here Charlie has no salary, so the default kicks in.
+  let charlieName = "Charlie"
+  let charlieSalary = await conn.queryValueOrDefault(
+    int32, sql"SELECT salary FROM employees WHERE name = {charlieName}", default = 0'i32
+  )
+  echo "Charlie's salary (0 = unknown): ", charlieSalary
+
+  # queryValueOpt: distinguish "no row / NULL" from a real value.
+  let daveName = "Dave"
+  let maybeTeam =
+    await conn.queryValueOpt(sql"SELECT team FROM employees WHERE name = {daveName}")
+  if maybeTeam.isSome:
+    echo "Dave's team: ", maybeTeam.get
+  else:
+    echo "Dave has no team"
+
+  # queryRowOpt: single-row lookup that tolerates a missing row.
+  let nobody = "Nobody"
+  let missing = await conn.queryRowOpt(
+    sql"SELECT name, salary FROM employees WHERE name = {nobody}"
+  )
+  echo "Missing lookup isSome: ", missing.isSome
+
+  # queryColumn: collect one column across all rows as `seq[string]`.
+  let names = await conn.queryColumn("SELECT name FROM employees ORDER BY id")
+  echo "Names: ", names
+
+  # queryEach: stream rows through a callback without building a QueryResult.
+  # The Row is only valid during the callback — copy out what you need.
+  var totalSalary = 0'i64
+  let rowCb: RowCallback = proc(row: Row) =
+    if not row.isNull("salary"):
+      totalSalary += row.getInt("salary")
+  let processed = await conn.queryEach("SELECT salary FROM employees", callback = rowCb)
+  echo "Processed ", processed, " rows, total salary: ", totalSalary
+
+  # simpleQuery: multiple `;`-separated statements in one round trip.
+  # Returns one QueryResult per statement. Handy for read-only introspection
+  # batches; not usable for parameterised queries.
+  let multi = await conn.simpleQuery(
+    "SELECT count(*) FROM employees; SELECT count(DISTINCT team) FROM employees"
+  )
+  echo "Total employees: ", multi[0].rows[0].getStr(0)
+  echo "Distinct teams:  ", multi[1].rows[0].getStr(0)
+
+waitFor main()