feat: support shallow clone (#2653)

Support shallow cloning a dataset at a specific location to create a new
dataset, using the shallow_clone feature in Lance. Also introduce remote
`clone` API for remote tables for this functionality.

nodejs/__test__/connection.test.ts

@@ -203,3 +203,106 @@ describe("given a connection", () => {
     });
   });
 });
+
+describe("clone table functionality", () => {
+  let tmpDir: tmp.DirResult;
+  let db: Connection;
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    tmpDir = tmp.dirSync({ unsafeCleanup: true });
+    db = await connect(tmpDir.name);
+  });
+  afterEach(() => tmpDir.removeCallback());
+
+  it("should clone a table with latest version (default behavior)", async () => {
+    // Create source table with some data
+    const data = [
+      { id: 1, text: "hello", vector: [1.0, 2.0] },
+      { id: 2, text: "world", vector: [3.0, 4.0] },
+    ];
+    const sourceTable = await db.createTable("source", data);
+
+    // Add more data to create a new version
+    const moreData = [{ id: 3, text: "test", vector: [5.0, 6.0] }];
+    await sourceTable.add(moreData);
+
+    // Clone the table (should get latest version with 3 rows)
+    const sourceUri = `${tmpDir.name}/source.lance`;
+    const clonedTable = await db.cloneTable("cloned", sourceUri);
+
+    // Verify cloned table has all 3 rows
+    expect(await clonedTable.countRows()).toBe(3);
+    expect((await db.tableNames()).includes("cloned")).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("should clone a table from a specific version", async () => {
+    // Create source table with initial data
+    const data = [
+      { id: 1, text: "hello", vector: [1.0, 2.0] },
+      { id: 2, text: "world", vector: [3.0, 4.0] },
+    ];
+    const sourceTable = await db.createTable("source", data);
+
+    // Get the initial version
+    const initialVersion = await sourceTable.version();
+
+    // Add more data to create a new version
+    const moreData = [{ id: 3, text: "test", vector: [5.0, 6.0] }];
+    await sourceTable.add(moreData);
+
+    // Verify source now has 3 rows
+    expect(await sourceTable.countRows()).toBe(3);
+
+    // Clone from the initial version (should have only 2 rows)
+    const sourceUri = `${tmpDir.name}/source.lance`;
+    const clonedTable = await db.cloneTable("cloned", sourceUri, {
+      sourceVersion: initialVersion,
+    });
+
+    // Verify cloned table has only the initial 2 rows
+    expect(await clonedTable.countRows()).toBe(2);
+  });
+
+  it("should clone a table from a tagged version", async () => {
+    // Create source table with initial data
+    const data = [
+      { id: 1, text: "hello", vector: [1.0, 2.0] },
+      { id: 2, text: "world", vector: [3.0, 4.0] },
+    ];
+    const sourceTable = await db.createTable("source", data);
+
+    // Create a tag for the current version
+    const tags = await sourceTable.tags();
+    await tags.create("v1.0", await sourceTable.version());
+
+    // Add more data after the tag
+    const moreData = [{ id: 3, text: "test", vector: [5.0, 6.0] }];
+    await sourceTable.add(moreData);
+
+    // Verify source now has 3 rows
+    expect(await sourceTable.countRows()).toBe(3);
+
+    // Clone from the tagged version (should have only 2 rows)
+    const sourceUri = `${tmpDir.name}/source.lance`;
+    const clonedTable = await db.cloneTable("cloned", sourceUri, {
+      sourceTag: "v1.0",
+    });
+
+    // Verify cloned table has only the tagged version's 2 rows
+    expect(await clonedTable.countRows()).toBe(2);
+  });
+
+  it("should fail when attempting deep clone", async () => {
+    // Create source table with some data
+    const data = [
+      { id: 1, text: "hello", vector: [1.0, 2.0] },
+      { id: 2, text: "world", vector: [3.0, 4.0] },
+    ];
+    await db.createTable("source", data);
+
+    // Try to create a deep clone (should fail)
+    const sourceUri = `${tmpDir.name}/source.lance`;
+    await expect(
+      db.cloneTable("cloned", sourceUri, { isShallow: false }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow("Deep clone is not yet implemented");
+  });
+});

nodejs/lancedb/connection.ts

@@ -268,6 +268,33 @@ export abstract class Connection {
    * @param {string[]} namespace The namespace to drop tables from (defaults to root namespace).
    */
   abstract dropAllTables(namespace?: string[]): Promise<void>;
+
+  /**
+   * Clone a table from a source table.
+   *
+   * A shallow clone creates a new table that shares the underlying data files
+   * with the source table but has its own independent manifest. This allows
+   * both the source and cloned tables to evolve independently while initially
+   * sharing the same data, deletion, and index files.
+   *
+   * @param {string} targetTableName - The name of the target table to create.
+   * @param {string} sourceUri - The URI of the source table to clone from.
+   * @param {object} options - Clone options.
+   * @param {string[]} options.targetNamespace - The namespace for the target table (defaults to root namespace).
+   * @param {number} options.sourceVersion - The version of the source table to clone.
+   * @param {string} options.sourceTag - The tag of the source table to clone.
+   * @param {boolean} options.isShallow - Whether to perform a shallow clone (defaults to true).
+   */
+  abstract cloneTable(
+    targetTableName: string,
+    sourceUri: string,
+    options?: {
+      targetNamespace?: string[];
+      sourceVersion?: number;
+      sourceTag?: string;
+      isShallow?: boolean;
+    },
+  ): Promise<Table>;
 }
 
 /** @hideconstructor */
@@ -332,6 +359,28 @@ export class LocalConnection extends Connection {
     return new LocalTable(innerTable);
   }
 
+  async cloneTable(
+    targetTableName: string,
+    sourceUri: string,
+    options?: {
+      targetNamespace?: string[];
+      sourceVersion?: number;
+      sourceTag?: string;
+      isShallow?: boolean;
+    },
+  ): Promise<Table> {
+    const innerTable = await this.inner.cloneTable(
+      targetTableName,
+      sourceUri,
+      options?.targetNamespace ?? [],
+      options?.sourceVersion ?? null,
+      options?.sourceTag ?? null,
+      options?.isShallow ?? true,
+    );
+
+    return new LocalTable(innerTable);
+  }
+
   private getStorageOptions(
     options?: Partial<CreateTableOptions>,
   ): Record<string, string> | undefined {

nodejs/src/connection.rs

@@ -213,6 +213,36 @@ impl Connection {
         Ok(Table::new(tbl))
     }
 
+    #[napi(catch_unwind)]
+    pub async fn clone_table(
+        &self,
+        target_table_name: String,
+        source_uri: String,
+        target_namespace: Vec<String>,
+        source_version: Option<i64>,
+        source_tag: Option<String>,
+        is_shallow: bool,
+    ) -> napi::Result<Table> {
+        let mut builder = self
+            .get_inner()?
+            .clone_table(&target_table_name, &source_uri);
+
+        builder = builder.target_namespace(target_namespace);
+
+        if let Some(version) = source_version {
+            builder = builder.source_version(version as u64);
+        }
+
+        if let Some(tag) = source_tag {
+            builder = builder.source_tag(tag);
+        }
+
+        builder = builder.is_shallow(is_shallow);
+
+        let tbl = builder.execute().await.default_error()?;
+        Ok(Table::new(tbl))
+    }
+
     /// Drop table with the name. Or raise an error if the table does not exist.
     #[napi(catch_unwind)]
     pub async fn drop_table(&self, name: String, namespace: Vec<String>) -> napi::Result<()> {