From d1f15b8bd06153a771b3718a44dcb0746b0a6048 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ChilePiquin <brunoarh@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:46:03 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Allow idempotent index UUID reservations

---
 rust/lancedb/src/index.rs              | 11 +++--
 rust/lancedb/src/table/create_index.rs | 66 +++++++++++++++++++++++---
 2 files changed, 66 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/rust/lancedb/src/index.rs b/rust/lancedb/src/index.rs
index 45d21b14b..1c0a45c5b 100644
--- a/rust/lancedb/src/index.rs
+++ b/rust/lancedb/src/index.rs
@@ -225,11 +225,12 @@ impl IndexBuilder {
     /// reject caller-selected UUIDs because the remote create-index protocol
     /// does not carry index UUIDs.
     ///
-    /// The UUID must not already belong to a committed index on the table. If
-    /// the UUID is already in use, index creation fails before building the new
-    /// index. This check is independent of [`Self::replace`]: `replace(true)`
-    /// may replace an index name, but it may not reuse another committed
-    /// index's UUID.
+    /// The UUID must not already belong to a surviving committed index on the
+    /// table. If the UUID is already in use by an unrelated index, index
+    /// creation fails before building the new index. `replace(true)` may
+    /// replace an index with the same name, and may reuse that index's UUID
+    /// only when the replaced index is removed by the same create-index
+    /// transaction.
     ///
     /// # Examples
     ///
diff --git a/rust/lancedb/src/table/create_index.rs b/rust/lancedb/src/table/create_index.rs
index 8a00ee992..4905f7352 100644
--- a/rust/lancedb/src/table/create_index.rs
+++ b/rust/lancedb/src/table/create_index.rs
@@ -151,16 +151,30 @@ impl NativeTable {
         let (column, lance_idx_params, index_type) = prepared;
         let mut dataset = (*self.dataset.get().await?).clone();
         let columns = [column.as_str()];
+        let index_name = opts
+            .name
+            .as_deref()
+            .map(str::to_owned)
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| format!("{}_idx", column));
 
         if let Some(index_uuid) = opts.index_uuid {
             let indices = dataset.load_indices().await?;
             if let Some(existing_index) = indices.iter().find(|index| index.uuid == index_uuid) {
-                return Err(Error::InvalidInput {
-                    message: format!(
-                        "Index UUID '{}' is already used by index '{}'",
-                        index_uuid, existing_index.name
-                    ),
-                });
+                let is_matching_empty_reservation = existing_index.name == index_name
+                    && existing_index
+                        .fragment_bitmap
+                        .as_ref()
+                        .is_some_and(|fragments| fragments.is_empty());
+                // Let Lance's name/replace handling classify retries of the
+                // caller's own empty reservation.
+                if !is_matching_empty_reservation {
+                    return Err(Error::InvalidInput {
+                        message: format!(
+                            "Index UUID '{}' is already used by index '{}'",
+                            index_uuid, existing_index.name
+                        ),
+                    });
+                }
             }
         }
 
@@ -1144,6 +1158,46 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(index.index_uuid, Some(index_uuid.to_string()));
     }
 
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_create_index_allows_selected_uuid_empty_reservation_retry() {
+        let conn = connect("memory://").execute().await.unwrap();
+        let batch = record_batch!(("i", Int32, [1])).unwrap();
+        let table = conn
+            .create_table("my_table", batch)
+            .execute()
+            .await
+            .unwrap();
+        let index_uuid = uuid::Uuid::new_v4();
+
+        table
+            .create_index(&["i"], Index::BTree(BTreeIndexBuilder::default()))
+            .name("i_idx".to_string())
+            .index_uuid(index_uuid)
+            .train(false)
+            .replace(false)
+            .execute()
+            .await
+            .unwrap();
+
+        let err = table
+            .create_index(&["i"], Index::BTree(BTreeIndexBuilder::default()))
+            .name("i_idx".to_string())
+            .index_uuid(index_uuid)
+            .train(false)
+            .replace(false)
+            .execute()
+            .await
+            .unwrap_err();
+        assert!(err.to_string().contains("already exists"));
+        assert!(!err.to_string().contains("already used by index"));
+
+        let index_configs = table.list_indices().await.unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(index_configs.len(), 1);
+        let index = index_configs.into_iter().next().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(index.name, "i_idx");
+        assert_eq!(index.index_uuid, Some(index_uuid.to_string()));
+    }
+
     #[tokio::test]
     async fn test_create_fm_index() {
         let tmp_dir = tempdir().unwrap();