From 79e9dffd0613e4c8e70c6ef22f0cb79e4cfc6d48 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Wyatt Alt <wyatt.alt@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:11:21 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix: make computed columns explicitly local-only

Both operations were advertised on remote tables and neither could work. A
declaration reaches the wire as AllNulls, which RemoteTable::add_columns does
not accept, and refresh_column fell through to the BaseTable default; the
TypeScript wrapper reached the same surface. Callers got errors that named
neither the feature nor the reason.

The remote protocol has no representation for a stored expression, and what
one should look like is not settled -- the server persists a declaration under
a different vocabulary. So this states the boundary rather than guessing at a
wire format: an explicit AllNulls arm, a default that names computed columns,
and NotImplementedError raised in Python before the round trip.
---
 python/python/lancedb/remote/table.py |  8 ++++--
 rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs      | 38 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 rust/lancedb/src/table.rs             | 22 ++++++++++++++--
 3 files changed, 64 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/python/python/lancedb/remote/table.py b/python/python/lancedb/remote/table.py
index 82da3779f..5bd446775 100644
--- a/python/python/lancedb/remote/table.py
+++ b/python/python/lancedb/remote/table.py
@@ -964,10 +964,14 @@ class RemoteTable(Table):
         *,
         computed: Dict[str, str] | None = None,
     ) -> AddColumnsResult:
-        return LOOP.run(self._table.add_columns(transforms, computed=computed))
+        if computed:
+            raise NotImplementedError(
+                "computed columns are supported only on local tables"
+            )
+        return LOOP.run(self._table.add_columns(transforms))
 
     def refresh_column(self, column: str):
-        return LOOP.run(self._table.refresh_column(column))
+        raise NotImplementedError("computed columns are supported only on local tables")
 
     def alter_columns(
         self, *alterations: Iterable[Dict[str, str]]
diff --git a/rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs b/rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs
index 0d843dd54..e48a9b571 100644
--- a/rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs
+++ b/rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs
@@ -2706,6 +2706,13 @@ impl<S: HttpSend> BaseTable for RemoteTable<S> {
 
                 Ok(result)
             }
+            // A declaration reaches here as AllNulls, which the remote protocol
+            // has no representation for.
+            NewColumnTransform::AllNulls(_) => {
+                return Err(Error::NotSupported {
+                    message: "computed columns are supported only on local tables".into(),
+                });
+            }
             _ => {
                 return Err(Error::NotSupported {
                     message: "Only SQL expressions are supported for adding columns".into(),
@@ -6455,6 +6462,37 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(result.version, if old_server { 0 } else { 43 });
     }
 
+    /// Computed columns are local-only. Both halves say so here rather than
+    /// reaching the wire and failing somewhere less legible.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_computed_columns_are_refused() {
+        let table = Table::new_with_handler("my_table", |request| -> http::Response<String> {
+            panic!("unexpected request: {}", request.url().path())
+        });
+
+        let declared = Arc::new(Schema::new(vec![Field::new(
+            "doubled",
+            DataType::Int32,
+            true,
+        )]));
+        let err = table
+            .add_columns()
+            .transform(NewColumnTransform::AllNulls(declared))
+            .execute()
+            .await
+            .unwrap_err();
+        assert!(
+            matches!(&err, Error::NotSupported { message } if message.contains("local tables")),
+            "{err:?}"
+        );
+
+        let err = table.refresh_column("doubled").await.unwrap_err();
+        assert!(
+            matches!(&err, Error::NotSupported { message } if message.contains("local tables")),
+            "{err:?}"
+        );
+    }
+
     #[tokio::test]
     async fn test_prewarm_index() {
         let table = Table::new_with_handler("my_table", |request| {
diff --git a/rust/lancedb/src/table.rs b/rust/lancedb/src/table.rs
index bb85df8a8..2b842aa74 100644
--- a/rust/lancedb/src/table.rs
+++ b/rust/lancedb/src/table.rs
@@ -793,7 +793,7 @@ pub trait BaseTable: std::fmt::Display + std::fmt::Debug + Send + Sync {
     /// The default returns `NotSupported`; Lance-backed tables override it.
     async fn refresh_column(&self, _column: &str) -> Result<RefreshColumnResult> {
         Err(Error::NotSupported {
-            message: "refresh_column is not supported on this table type".into(),
+            message: "computed columns are supported only on local tables".into(),
         })
     }
     /// Alter columns in the table.
@@ -1688,7 +1688,25 @@ impl Table {
         AddColumnsBuilder::new(self.inner.clone())
     }
 
-    /// Compute and store values for a computed column's unfilled rows.
+    /// Fill the fragments of a computed column that hold no values yet.
+    ///
+    /// Declared with
+    /// [`AddColumnsBuilder::computed`](add_columns::AddColumnsBuilder::computed),
+    /// a column starts empty and gets its values here. Fragments appended
+    /// since the last refresh are filled by the next one; fragments already
+    /// filled are left as they are, so the call is idempotent and does not
+    /// observe a mutated input.
+    ///
+    /// Local tables only.
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// # use lancedb::Table;
+    /// # async fn refresh(table: &Table) -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
+    /// let result = table.refresh_column("doubled").await?;
+    /// println!("filled {} rows at version {}", result.rows_filled, result.version);
+    /// # Ok(())
+    /// # }
+    /// ```
     pub async fn refresh_column(&self, column: impl AsRef<str>) -> Result<RefreshColumnResult> {
         self.inner.refresh_column(column.as_ref()).await
     }