A broad documentation pass across the areas LanceDB Enterprise and
Embedded
diverge on most:
**Data Curation** -- GPU Function execution, Slurm scheduling (and what
Slurm is, for readers new to it), blob late materialization as its own
page, joins, aggregation/profiling, sampling, near-duplicate detection,
chunking, distributed shuffle, and IVF-partition clustering.
**Feature Engineering** -- computed columns and materialized views,
restructured to lead with the Function-based path and show the SQL form
side by side with Python throughout; a single Auto Refresh page instead
of
duplicating scheduling details on every refresh page; adaptive
execution;
checkpointing; GPU and Slurm placement for refresh workers; a Training
Cache page for the PyTorch data loader's automatic cache benefit.
**Security & Governance** -- an Audit Log reference (schema, access,
grants), Secrets promoted to an ordinary catalog object with their own
SQL
DDL and a vending/rotation guide, and privilege-table fixes verified
against the authorization source.
**Deployment & Maintenance** -- Horizontal Scaling and OpenTelemetry
moved
into a real Deployment area; Automated Cleanup folded into Intelligent
Auto-Maintenance (every other maintenance decision already lived there);
RTE Compaction and Advanced Conflict Resolution documented in depth.
**Landing page** -- the Enterprise feature comparison table reorganized
(several redundant or stale rows removed, several new areas added), and
the
"why Enterprise" bullets replaced with ones tied to a concrete page
(Performance, Scale, Fault tolerance, Multicloud deployment, Simplify
operations) instead of vague promises.
Plus a full pass addressing lancedb-gatekeeper's review: a real
test-safety
bug (a quickstart test could silently overwrite and delete a
deployment's
own `frames` table), a fabricated SQL statement with no backing
implementation, an actual dedup-guarantee bug in `take_row_ids`, and
dozens
of documentation-accuracy fixes verified against source rather than
taken
on faith -- each either fixed, or left with an explicit note on why it
needs a feature or deployment owner's sign-off instead of being guessed
at.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
https://claude.ai/code/session_018PXMCbRH6i5w47TsjeEUMT
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Python UDF registration could not set `batch_size` or
`row_timeout_seconds`, and the Rust registration model discarded these
fields before submitting SQL. Expose both optional controls and preserve
them through registration, with invalid values rejected and unchanged
canonical bytes when the controls are omitted.
The timeout applies to each Python call: one row for scalar Functions
and one batch for vectorized Functions. Initialization keeps its
existing service deadline.
Validation at `f58e55c535a7df310db14d691b329402ca4baaf5`: 6 Rust
registration-contract tests, 2 outbound-SQL tests, and all 103 Python
slice2 tests passed after rebuilding the native extension. Rust
formatting and the repository Python CI checks (Ruff 0.9.9, python/
scope) passed. A real REST + Flight SQL server integration also passed
using the rebuilt SDK: `batch_size=2` limits observed calls in a direct
SELECT over 8 rows, initial materialized-view creation, and
append/refresh to 12 rows. This CPU host test verifies SDK-to-runtime
passthrough; it does not exercise GPU initialization.
Refs ENT-3246. The original GPU initialization and video-decoding
scenario still needs verification on a current deployment; this SDK
change does not close that investigation.
The additional repository-root style checks report existing
docs/web-tests findings (nine format files and 48 lint diagnostics); all
affected files are unchanged from main. These are outside the Python CI
job scope.
Rust compatibility: callers constructing `FunctionRegistrationRequest`
must initialize the two new optional fields (`None` preserves defaults);
the request no longer implements `Eq`.
The final head `798f463c9f68ab73e28c9a1ff06b5e4ee3e5d01f` adds
creation-guide documentation and integrates main’s namespace
repr/optional OCI embedding changes. The Function registration
implementation is unchanged. All 103 Python slice2 tests passed again on
EC2 using the unchanged native extension; Rust and server-bridge
evidence remains applicable.
Packages passed through `@udf(code=[...])` silently omit non-Python
resources, so registration can appear successful before a worker fails
to open a data file. Warn during function preparation with the omitted
paths and document the source-only boundary next to `code=`. The
diagnostic explains how to install a distribution that includes the data
and remove the package from `code=` to avoid shadowing that
installation.
Python cache files do not produce warnings. Excluded directories are
reported at their boundary, preserving the existing traversal and
Python-source artifact format. This implements the
warning-and-documentation alternative in ENT-3492; it does not add
resource uploads.
On EC2, the regression fails on baseline `f9389f113` because no warning
is emitted; all 60 packaging tests pass at `e23445b96`, using the
matching native extension built from unchanged Rust sources.
CI-scoped Python lint with Ruff 0.9.9 passes. Whole-site Mintlify
validation reports the same four snippet-import warnings on the baseline
and this head; repository-root Ruff likewise reports the same 48
findings under `docs/web-tests`. These checks are not clean passes, but
their failures do not involve this change.
Fixes ENT-3492
A Function that produces several blobs per row, such as frames from a video, could not declare `pa.list_(lancedb.blob("item"))` as its output: signatures rejected Blob v2 under any collection.
Outputs now accept Blob v2 inside list and large-list fields; the server stores each element as a Blob v2 value. Inputs, fixed-size lists and maps still reject it (lance stores Blob v2 under neither), and the `udf()` docstring now says where Blob v2 may appear.
`list_functions()` promises every published immutable revision. Request
`SHOW FUNCTIONS HISTORY` so the SQL server's latest-only default does
not hide older revisions, and preserve the server's numeric revision
ordering when constructing page cursors (`1`, `2`, `10`).
```python
[(fn.name, fn.version) for fn in db.list_functions(page_limit=2)]
# [("embed", "1"), ("embed", "2"), ("embed", "10")]
```
```sql
SHOW FUNCTIONS; -- latest visible revision per name
SHOW FUNCTIONS HISTORY WITH (limit = 3, include_definition = true);
SHOW FUNCTIONS HISTORY WITH (after_name = 'embed', after_version = '2', limit = 3);
```
Each listing page uses the existing SQL query and polling transport; the
continuation token stores the last returned name/revision and remains
bound to its database and namespace. Function mutations keep their
query-backed job handles: `Job.id` is the query's ID and `job_type` is
`query`, so waiting observes that same SQL execution. No registry job or
second query ID is added.
Update the SQL and Python documentation for exact-revision drops:
sibling revisions and grants survive, and only the last visible
revision's removal releases the name and schedules object cleanup.
Extend the existing Flight SQL regression to paginate revisions `1`,
`2`, and `10` and verify the explicit history statement. Formatting and
static Python checks pass; local builds and tests were intentionally not
run.
Remote function registration, exact-version lookup, listing, and drop now execute SQL through the Flight client. Registration waits for the durable image build and catalog publication before yielding its typed `FunctionVersion`. SQL also covers source-inclusive description and pinned metadata updates.
Registration and drop handles use `job_type="query"`; the single `job.id` is the SQL query UUID and can be inspected with `describe_query()` on the submitting connection. Waiting drains the SQL result once and caches completion for repeated waits. The drop boolean reports catalog removal; physical cleanup continues separately. Query handles have no registry history and cannot be reopened with `open_job()`.
## Summary
- Complete the SQL reference: `ATTACH DATABASE`, the `CHANGES` clause,
and
`dedupe()`/`duplicate_pairs()` (verified against current sophon source;
these were recently renamed from
`vector_dedup`/`vector_duplicate_pairs`).
Fix the blob-column default-projection claim and add the previously
undocumented `blob_descriptor()`.
- Enrich the gated Functions draft (still `.mintignore`'d, pre-release):
chained Functions over blob outputs, GPU-produced blobs, Secrets,
multi-input/output binding, `code=[module]` packaging.
- Upgrade the materialized-view and computed-column auto-refresh drafts
with
precise, verified catch-up semantics, and add the missing `ALTER
MATERIALIZED VIEW` / `CREATE ... WITH(...)` sections (also gated — the
automatic-refresh scheduler is still dev/staging-only).
- Thread one running example (video frames → GPU extract/caption → dedup
→
auto-refreshing materialized view) through Functions, materialized
views,
and the LeRobotDataset integration guide instead of a separate tutorial.
- Rename "LanceDB OSS"/"OSS" to "LanceDB Embedded"/"Embedded" throughout
(52 files); activate the existing availability-comparison mechanism on
`basics/offerings.mdx` for a full feature-by-feature comparison table.
## Summary
Adopts the product terminology guide across the docs site pages, SDK
docstrings and error messages. "LanceDB OSS" and local mode become
**LanceDB Embedded**. "Remote" as the execution model becomes **LanceDB
Distributed**, which LanceDB Enterprise provides. Where free vs paid is
the point, pages contrast "LanceDB Embedded (open source)" with "LanceDB
Enterprise". This is a first trial of the Embedded name, so reviewers
can judge it in context.
- **Embedded vs Distributed** for where execution runs (`optimize()`,
consistency, branching, maintenance). Main pages define it once:
"LanceDB Enterprise runs LanceDB Distributed: …"
- **LanceDB Cloud** is kept only for legacy-Cloud specifics (`db://`
region, the brute-force KNN limit) and marked legacy. "Cloud and
Enterprise" becomes Enterprise or Distributed.
- **Plan executor** becomes "executor" or the fleet name.
- **Error messages** change, e.g. `optimize is not supported for remote
tables.` → `... in LanceDB Distributed.` Tests that match on them are
updated.
- **Vale rules** (`EmbeddedName`, `OSSProduct`, `RemoteExecution`,
`DistributedEnterprise`, `LegacyCloud`, `InternalNames`) enforce the
terms in prose.
Unchanged: identifiers (`availability.oss`, the `remote` module and
feature, `RemoteTable`, `db://`), heading anchors, internal code
comments, and Geneva.
## Evidence
- Rust lib tests for the changed messages and the Python tests in
`test_remote_db.py`, `test_materialized_views.py` and `test_table.py`
pass locally.
- Not run locally:
- The Node tests: `remote.test.ts` and `table.test.ts` have updated
assertions.
- Vale.
- The `experimental_functions`-marked materialized-view tests.
- `docs/src` API reference was hand-edited to match the docstrings
rather than regenerated.
## Merge Risk
**Door:** two-way; prose and message text only.
**Blast Radius:** `docs`, `error-messages`: callers matching on old
error strings would break.
Companion PRs: lancedb/docs (assembler labels, STYLE.md) and sophon
(Enterprise pages).
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The Functions page only showed a plain function, so it never said where a class's `__init__` runs. Users loading a large model need to know it is not the client: registration reads the signature and ships the source.
This adds a section on class Functions: `__init__` runs once per instance on the worker, then `__call__` per row or batch and `close()` on retirement, state is per instance, and `__init__` parameters are initialization fields set per binding. The example's test asserts that registering the class does not construct it.
Infer Blob V2 input access from the Python Function signature. `video:
BlobReader` requests a lazy, seekable reader; `video: bytes` requests
the complete payload. Users do not need a separate `blob_inputs`
registration option.
## Python experience
For a video table joined to a table of frame timestamps, the Function
can pass its reader directly to a media decoder:
```python
import io
import av
from lancedb import BlobReader, udf
@udf(pip=["av", "Pillow"])
def extract_frame(video: BlobReader, timestamp_s: float) -> bytes:
with av.open(video) as container:
stream = container.streams.video[0]
container.seek(int(timestamp_s / stream.time_base), stream=stream)
for frame in container.decode(stream):
if frame.time is not None and frame.time >= timestamp_s:
output = io.BytesIO()
frame.to_image().save(output, format="JPEG")
return output.getvalue()
raise ValueError("No frame at or after the requested timestamp")
```
After registering `extract_frame`, the query keeps the usual Function
call:
```sql
SELECT f.video_id, f.timestamp_s,
extract_frame(v.video, f.timestamp_s) AS image
FROM videos AS v
JOIN frames AS f ON v.id = f.video_id
```
The returned JPEG can feed a subsequent image-model step. The reader
provides `read`, `readinto`, `seek`, `tell`, `size()`, and
`read_range(offset, length)`; range reads leave the sequential cursor
unchanged. Each row invocation owns its reader, which closes after the
call. Decoder seeks can request the parts of the MP4 needed to locate
and decode the requested frame; the amount read depends on the file
layout and codec.
Functions that need the whole value can keep a bytes signature:
```python
@udf
def video_length(video: bytes) -> int:
return len(video)
```
## Execution contract
- Signature inference maps `BlobReader` to a Blob V2 field and records
`blob_access="reader"`. `bytes` keeps its binary Arrow type and records
`blob_access="bytes"`; it can also bind to a Blob V2 source. Explicit
schemas support the same choice, including a Blob V2 field annotated as
`bytes`.
- Reader execution carries a compact blob reference into the Function
worker. Payload reads happen when Python calls the reader, with requests
split into at most 1 MiB ranges. The full video does not need to enter
the Arrow input batch just to invoke the Function.
- Bytes execution materializes the full source before the Function runs
and remains subject to eager-input memory admission. Calling
`reader.read()` without a size also materializes the remaining contents
in Python; lazy access depends on how the Function consumes it.
- Input access metadata survives Python/Rust Function serialization and
registration. Packaged Functions import the worker-provided reader
implementation. This PR defines the SDK contract; execution requires
corresponding server support.
- This changes blob inputs. The example still returns ordinary image
bytes; it does not add streamed outputs or run an image model.
Adds coverage for signature inference, explicit schemas, nullable
readers, signature round trips, seeking, bounded range reads, buffering,
and invalid responses.
Document explicit Managed Blob v2 opt-in, descriptor queries and payload
fetching, Function inputs and outputs, and whole-object cleanup. Explain
null versus empty values, snapshot ownership, packed-object retention,
and the distinction from the legacy large-binary Blob API.
The local ingestion and Enterprise Function examples have been executed
end to end. The Function lifecycle description depends on
lance-format/lance#10176 and the corresponding Enterprise migration. The
existing Functions page remains outside the published navigation until
launch.
Validation: the 347-file assembled site has no broken links. Mintlify
4.2.888 build validation reports four existing
`RsExampleBody`/`RsExampleTail` import warnings in the reranking and
vector-search pages; the same diagnostics reproduce with the unchanged
base versions of all three pages edited here.
The existing docs have 254 findings from our shared Vale rules.
Contributors would otherwise inherit these when editing the same lines.
Clean up the prose across 80 pages: correct product names and a repeated
word, simplify a few phrases, and replace dashes with punctuation that
fits each sentence. The pinned Vale scan now reports zero findings, with
no suppressions.
This PR is part of the documentation revamp. Once the full set of PRs is
merged, we’ll publish the combined site to staging for review before
updating docs.lancedb.com.
The curation, SQL and operations pages contain outdated claims and
examples that do not reliably work as written.
This corrects those pages against the reviewed SDK and local server
evidence, including prepared statements, background jobs, cleanup and
monitoring. Integration guides are grouped with their examples in #4533.
Function and Secret-object documentation stays unpublished until its
release. The two Function pages are listed in `.mintignore` and left out
of the navigation, and the sections about them on other pages are MDX
comments.
Stacked on #4533. Each MDX file has one PR owner. Rebase onto main after
#4533 is squash-merged.
Local assembly, Mint validation and link checks pass, and the assembled
site shows no Function or Secret-object content. A local release
rehearsal that uncomments the drafts and restores the navigation also
passes. Hold publication until this PR and lancedb/sophon#8688 are on
`main`.
Move the public website pages into `docs/web` beside the SDK, with
shared navigation and executable example sources in `docs/web-tests`.
The combined website is assembled by
[lancedb/docs#355](https://github.com/lancedb/docs/pull/355), with six
Enterprise replacements from
[lancedb/sophon#7681](https://github.com/lancedb/sophon/pull/7681).
This includes Function guidance, runnable Quickstarts, regenerated
snippets, production contact/demo fixes, the legacy SQL route, and the
LeRobot redirect. LeRobot remains attributed to Geneva; all 34 Geneva
pages remain in the docs repository until Function officially launches.
Materialized-view guidance follows the full rebuild refresh introduced
by #4373: local refresh writes the complete result, has no `full`
argument, supports `source_version`, and no longer requires stable row
IDs. Deployment SQL refresh options and stable-ID setup are qualified by
version/configuration. Function input guidance distinguishes ordinary
stored columns from computed inputs supported by newer deployments.
**Validation:** independently accepted local checks include 95 Python
tests (real Enterprise excluded), eight TypeScript tests, Rust
Quickstart, snippet parity, typos, deterministic assembly, Mint
validation and links/anchors/redirects. The combined baseline retains
all 181 production routes and 17 legacy redirects. Examples ran locally
against source-built Python SDK 0.40.0b13; existing GitHub workflows do
not run `docs/web-tests`. New main at `069b2f7d` is 0.41.0b0 and adds
computed Function inputs; that SDK was not exercised by the accepted
tests. Latest prose corrections receive focused site validation.
**Merge/rollout:** merge this and #7681 before #355's combined CI, which
reads producer `main`. This is migration infrastructure: section
overlays, source-owned skills and automatic versioned paired releases
remain follow-ups. The current manual publisher is transitional. Hosted
validation, a supported SDK/Enterprise release pair and a real
Enterprise walkthrough remain pending.
Production Mintlify watches `lancedb/docs:deploy-freeze`, directory
`docs`; preserve that source through review. The separate SDK GitHub
Pages reference workflow rebuilds on main merges.
**Updated-head CI (9a50f8db):**
[Typos](https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb/actions/runs/37654185443/job/112904990558),
[PR
title](https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb/actions/runs/37654179507/job/112904974595)
and
[Aikido](https://app.aikido.dev/featurebranch/scan/215386145?groupId=74229)
pass. Critical findings in the example lockfiles were patched: all Sharp
copies use 0.35.5, protobufjs 7.6.6, tar 7.5.22, quinn-proto 0.11.19,
zerovec 0.11.8 and zerovec-derive 0.11.6. The SDK's product dependencies
are unchanged. The revised lockfiles pass eight TypeScript examples,
HuggingFace decode/resize/crop/rescale/normalize plus AVIF roundtrip,
and Rust Quickstart. Aikido passing does not mean every advisory is
cleared; npm still reports 29 high and five moderate advisories in the
example dependency graph. No scanner bypass or suppression was added.
The Function prose correction passes combined/standalone Mint,
deterministic assembly, routes and assets. The revised 325-file site
checksum is
`175bec06864abb400dd292e667ba93448c0479b8359fd7bf6146afabf9040647`. This
PR remains open for independent review; further merges are on hold.
---------
Co-authored-by: Brendan Clement <brendan.clement@lancedb.com>
Jack YeandClaude Sonnet 5
Xuanwo
Wyatt Alt
Will JonesandClaude Opus 5.5
Brendan Clement