fix(rust): create tables after namespace declare conflict

Fixes #3269.

## What I observed
Using a reranker in a hybrid query could keep the Node.js process alive
even after `table.close()` and `db.close()`.

## Root cause
The reranker callback bridge used a `ThreadsafeFunction` in referenced
mode, which can keep the event loop alive longer than intended.

## Minimal fix
- In `nodejs/src/rerankers.rs`, create the reranker callback TSFN in
weak mode (`.weak::<true>()`).
- Add a regression test in `nodejs/__test__/rerankers.test.ts` that
spawns a child process, runs a rerank query, and asserts the process
exits naturally.

## Validation
- Built Node bindings successfully.
- Ran targeted tests: `rerankers.test.ts` passes (including new
regression test).
- Pre-commit checks for changed files were run and clean.

.bumpversion.toml

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [tool.bumpversion]
-current_version = "0.28.0-beta.7"
+current_version = "0.28.0-beta.8"
 parse = """(?x)
     (?P<major>0|[1-9]\\d*)\\.
     (?P<minor>0|[1-9]\\d*)\\.

Cargo.lock

@@ -4576,7 +4576,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "lancedb"
-version = "0.28.0-beta.7"
+version = "0.28.0-beta.8"
 dependencies = [
  "ahash",
  "anyhow",
@@ -4658,7 +4658,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "lancedb-nodejs"
-version = "0.28.0-beta.7"
+version = "0.28.0-beta.8"
 dependencies = [
  "arrow-array",
  "arrow-buffer",
@@ -4680,7 +4680,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "lancedb-python"
-version = "0.31.0-beta.7"
+version = "0.31.0-beta.8"
 dependencies = [
  "arrow",
  "async-trait",

docs/src/java/java.md

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Add the following dependency to your `pom.xml`:
 <dependency>
     <groupId>com.lancedb</groupId>
     <artifactId>lancedb-core</artifactId>
-    <version>0.28.0-beta.7</version>
+    <version>0.28.0-beta.8</version>
 </dependency>
 ```
 

java/lancedb-core/pom.xml

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
     <parent>
       <groupId>com.lancedb</groupId>
       <artifactId>lancedb-parent</artifactId>
-      <version>0.28.0-beta.7</version>
+      <version>0.28.0-beta.8</version>
       <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 

java/pom.xml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
     <groupId>com.lancedb</groupId>
     <artifactId>lancedb-parent</artifactId>
-    <version>0.28.0-beta.7</version>
+    <version>0.28.0-beta.8</version>
     <packaging>pom</packaging>
     <name>${project.artifactId}</name>
     <description>LanceDB Java SDK Parent POM</description>

nodejs/Cargo.toml

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [package]
 name = "lancedb-nodejs"
 edition.workspace = true
-version = "0.28.0-beta.7"
+version = "0.28.0-beta.8"
 license.workspace = true
 description.workspace = true
 repository.workspace = true

nodejs/__test__/rerankers.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 // SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The LanceDB Authors
 
+import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
+import * as path from "node:path";
 import { RecordBatch } from "apache-arrow";
 import * as tmp from "tmp";
 import { Connection, Index, Table, connect, makeArrowTable } from "../lancedb";
@@ -76,4 +78,91 @@ describe("rerankers", function () {
 
     expect(result).toHaveLength(2);
   });
+
+  it("does not keep process alive after rerank query", async function () {
+    const script = `
+import * as lancedb from "./dist/index.js";
+import * as os from "node:os";
+import * as path from "node:path";
+import * as fs from "node:fs/promises";
+
+const dir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "lancedb-rerank-exit-"));
+const db = await lancedb.connect(dir);
+const table = await db.createTable("test", [{ text: "hello", vector: [1, 2, 3] }], {
+  mode: "overwrite",
+});
+await table.createIndex("text", { config: lancedb.Index.fts() });
+await table.waitForIndex(["text_idx"], 30);
+
+const reranker = await lancedb.rerankers.RRFReranker.create();
+await table
+  .query()
+  .nearestTo([1, 2, 3])
+  .fullTextSearch("hello")
+  .rerank(reranker)
+  .toArray();
+
+table.close();
+db.close();
+`;
+
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+      const child = spawn(
+        process.execPath,
+        ["--input-type=module", "-e", script],
+        {
+          cwd: path.resolve(__dirname, ".."),
+          stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "pipe"],
+        },
+      );
+
+      let stdout = "";
+      let stderr = "";
+
+      child.stdout.on("data", (chunk) => {
+        stdout += chunk.toString();
+      });
+
+      child.stderr.on("data", (chunk) => {
+        stderr += chunk.toString();
+      });
+
+      const timeout = setTimeout(() => {
+        child.kill();
+        reject(
+          new Error(
+            `child process did not exit in time\nstdout:\n${stdout}\nstderr:\n${stderr}`,
+          ),
+        );
+      }, 20_000);
+
+      child.on("error", (err) => {
+        clearTimeout(timeout);
+        reject(err);
+      });
+
+      child.on("exit", (code, signal) => {
+        clearTimeout(timeout);
+        if (signal !== null) {
+          reject(
+            new Error(
+              `child process exited with signal ${signal}\nstdout:\n${stdout}\nstderr:\n${stderr}`,
+            ),
+          );
+          return;
+        }
+
+        if (code !== 0) {
+          reject(
+            new Error(
+              `child process exited with code ${code}\nstdout:\n${stdout}\nstderr:\n${stderr}`,
+            ),
+          );
+          return;
+        }
+
+        resolve();
+      });
+    });
+  });
 });

nodejs/npm/darwin-arm64/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "@lancedb/lancedb-darwin-arm64",
-	"version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+	"version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
 	"os": ["darwin"],
 	"cpu": ["arm64"],
 	"main": "lancedb.darwin-arm64.node",

nodejs/npm/linux-arm64-gnu/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "@lancedb/lancedb-linux-arm64-gnu",
-	"version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+	"version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
 	"os": ["linux"],
 	"cpu": ["arm64"],
 	"main": "lancedb.linux-arm64-gnu.node",

nodejs/npm/linux-arm64-musl/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "@lancedb/lancedb-linux-arm64-musl",
-	"version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+	"version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
 	"os": ["linux"],
 	"cpu": ["arm64"],
 	"main": "lancedb.linux-arm64-musl.node",

nodejs/npm/linux-x64-gnu/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "@lancedb/lancedb-linux-x64-gnu",
-	"version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+	"version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
 	"os": ["linux"],
 	"cpu": ["x64"],
 	"main": "lancedb.linux-x64-gnu.node",

nodejs/npm/linux-x64-musl/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "@lancedb/lancedb-linux-x64-musl",
-	"version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+	"version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
 	"os": ["linux"],
 	"cpu": ["x64"],
 	"main": "lancedb.linux-x64-musl.node",

nodejs/npm/win32-arm64-msvc/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@lancedb/lancedb-win32-arm64-msvc",
-  "version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+  "version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
   "os": [
     "win32"
   ],

nodejs/npm/win32-x64-msvc/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "@lancedb/lancedb-win32-x64-msvc",
-	"version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+	"version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
 	"os": ["win32"],
 	"cpu": ["x64"],
 	"main": "lancedb.win32-x64-msvc.node",

nodejs/package-lock.json

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@lancedb/lancedb",
-  "version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+  "version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@lancedb/lancedb",
-      "version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+      "version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
       "cpu": [
         "x64",
         "arm64"

nodejs/package.json

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
     "ann"
   ],
   "private": false,
-  "version": "0.28.0-beta.7",
+  "version": "0.28.0-beta.8",
   "main": "dist/index.js",
   "exports": {
     ".": "./dist/index.js",

nodejs/src/rerankers.rs

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ type RerankHybridFn = ThreadsafeFunction<
     RerankHybridCallbackArgs,
     Status,
     false,
+    true,
 >;
 
 /// Reranker implementation that "wraps" a NodeJS Reranker implementation.
@@ -32,7 +33,10 @@ impl Reranker {
     pub fn new(
         rerank_hybrid: Function<RerankHybridCallbackArgs, Promise<Buffer>>,
     ) -> napi::Result<Self> {
-        let rerank_hybrid = rerank_hybrid.build_threadsafe_function().build()?;
+        let rerank_hybrid = rerank_hybrid
+            .build_threadsafe_function()
+            .weak::<true>()
+            .build()?;
         Ok(Self { rerank_hybrid })
     }
 }

python/.bumpversion.toml

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [tool.bumpversion]
-current_version = "0.31.0-beta.7"
+current_version = "0.31.0-beta.8"
 parse = """(?x)
     (?P<major>0|[1-9]\\d*)\\.
     (?P<minor>0|[1-9]\\d*)\\.

python/Cargo.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "lancedb-python"
-version = "0.31.0-beta.7"
+version = "0.31.0-beta.8"
 edition.workspace = true
 description = "Python bindings for LanceDB"
 license.workspace = true

rust/lancedb/Cargo.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "lancedb"
-version = "0.28.0-beta.7"
+version = "0.28.0-beta.8"
 edition.workspace = true
 description = "LanceDB: A serverless, low-latency vector database for AI applications"
 license.workspace = true

rust/lancedb/src/database/namespace.rs

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ use crate::connection::NamespaceClientPushdownOperation;
 use crate::database::ReadConsistency;
 use crate::error::{Error, Result};
 use crate::table::NativeTable;
+use lance::dataset::WriteMode;
 
 use super::{
     BaseTable, CloneTableRequest, CreateTableMode, CreateTableRequest as DbCreateTableRequest,
@@ -184,6 +185,7 @@ impl Database for LanceNamespaceDatabase {
     async fn create_table(&self, request: DbCreateTableRequest) -> Result<Arc<dyn BaseTable>> {
         let mut table_id = request.namespace_path.clone();
         table_id.push(request.name.clone());
+        let mut existing_table = None;
 
         match request.mode {
             CreateTableMode::Create => {}
@@ -192,20 +194,7 @@ impl Database for LanceNamespaceDatabase {
                     id: Some(table_id.clone()),
                     ..Default::default()
                 };
-                let describe_result = self.namespace.describe_table(describe_request).await;
+                existing_table = self.namespace.describe_table(describe_request).await.ok();
-                if describe_result.is_ok() {
-                    // Drop the existing table - must succeed
-                    let drop_request = DropTableRequest {
-                        id: Some(table_id.clone()),
-                        ..Default::default()
-                    };
-                    self.namespace
-                        .drop_table(drop_request)
-                        .await
-                        .map_err(|e| Error::Runtime {
-                            message: format!("Failed to drop existing table for overwrite: {}", e),
-                        })?;
-                }
             }
             CreateTableMode::ExistOk(_) => {
                 let describe_request = DescribeTableRequest {
@@ -240,40 +229,82 @@ impl Database for LanceNamespaceDatabase {
         };
 
         let (location, initial_storage_options, managed_versioning) = {
-            let response = self
+            if let Some(response) = existing_table {
-                .namespace
+                let loc = response.location.ok_or_else(|| Error::Runtime {
-                .declare_table(declare_request)
+                    message: "Table location is missing from describe_table response".to_string(),
-                .await
-                .map_err(|e| {
-                    let err_str = e.to_string();
-                    if matches!(request.mode, CreateTableMode::Create)
-                        && (err_str.contains("already exists")
-                            || err_str.contains("TableAlreadyExists")
-                            || err_str.contains("table already exists"))
-                    {
-                        Error::TableAlreadyExists {
-                            name: request.name.clone(),
-                        }
-                    } else {
-                        Error::Runtime {
-                            message: format!("Failed to declare table: {}", e),
-                        }
-                    }
                 })?;
-            let loc = response.location.ok_or_else(|| Error::Runtime {
+                let opts = response
-                message: "Table location is missing from declare_table response".to_string(),
+                    .storage_options
-            })?;
+                    .or_else(|| Some(self.storage_options.clone()))
-            // Use storage options from response, fall back to self.storage_options
+                    .filter(|o| !o.is_empty());
-            let opts = response
+                (loc, opts, response.managed_versioning)
-                .storage_options
+            } else {
-                .or_else(|| Some(self.storage_options.clone()))
+                match self.namespace.declare_table(declare_request).await {
-                .filter(|o| !o.is_empty());
+                    Ok(response) => {
-            (loc, opts, response.managed_versioning)
+                        let loc = response.location.ok_or_else(|| Error::Runtime {
+                            message: "Table location is missing from declare_table response"
+                                .to_string(),
+                        })?;
+                        let opts = response
+                            .storage_options
+                            .or_else(|| Some(self.storage_options.clone()))
+                            .filter(|o: &HashMap<String, String>| !o.is_empty());
+                        (loc, opts, response.managed_versioning)
+                    }
+                    Err(e)
+                        if matches!(request.mode, CreateTableMode::Create) && {
+                            let err_str = e.to_string();
+                            err_str.contains("already exists")
+                                || err_str.contains("TableAlreadyExists")
+                                || err_str.contains("table already exists")
+                        } =>
+                    {
+                        let response = self
+                            .namespace
+                            .describe_table(DescribeTableRequest {
+                                id: Some(table_id.clone()),
+                                ..Default::default()
+                            })
+                            .await
+                            .map_err(|describe_err| Error::Runtime {
+                                message: format!(
+                                    "Failed to describe existing declared table after declare conflict: {}",
+                                    describe_err
+                                ),
+                            })?;
+
+                        if response.version.is_some() && response.schema.is_some() {
+                            return Err(Error::TableAlreadyExists {
+                                name: request.name.clone(),
+                            });
+                        }
+
+                        let loc = response.location.ok_or_else(|| Error::Runtime {
+                            message: "Table location is missing from describe_table response"
+                                .to_string(),
+                        })?;
+                        let opts = response
+                            .storage_options
+                            .or_else(|| Some(self.storage_options.clone()))
+                            .filter(|o: &HashMap<String, String>| !o.is_empty());
+                        (loc, opts, response.managed_versioning)
+                    }
+                    Err(e) => {
+                        return Err(Error::Runtime {
+                            message: format!("Failed to declare table: {}", e),
+                        });
+                    }
+                }
+            }
         };
 
         // Build write params with storage options and commit handler
         let mut params = request.write_options.lance_write_params.unwrap_or_default();
 
+        if matches!(request.mode, CreateTableMode::Overwrite) {
+            params.mode = WriteMode::Overwrite;
+        }
+
         // Set up storage options if provided
         if let Some(storage_opts) = initial_storage_options {
             let store_params = params
@@ -730,6 +761,58 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(id_col.value(2), 30);
     }
 
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_namespace_create_table_after_declare_conflict() {
+        let tmp_dir = tempdir().unwrap();
+        let root_path = tmp_dir.path().to_str().unwrap().to_string();
+
+        let mut properties = HashMap::new();
+        properties.insert("root".to_string(), root_path);
+
+        let conn = connect_namespace("dir", properties)
+            .execute()
+            .await
+            .expect("Failed to connect to namespace");
+
+        conn.create_namespace(CreateNamespaceRequest {
+            id: Some(vec!["test_ns".into()]),
+            ..Default::default()
+        })
+        .await
+        .expect("Failed to create namespace");
+
+        let namespace_client = conn.namespace_client().await.unwrap();
+        namespace_client
+            .declare_table(DeclareTableRequest {
+                id: Some(vec!["test_ns".into(), "declared_test".into()]),
+                ..Default::default()
+            })
+            .await
+            .expect("Failed to declare table");
+
+        let test_data = create_test_data();
+        let table = conn
+            .create_table("declared_test", test_data)
+            .namespace(vec!["test_ns".into()])
+            .execute()
+            .await
+            .expect("Failed to create table after declare conflict");
+
+        let results = table
+            .query()
+            .execute()
+            .await
+            .expect("Failed to query table")
+            .try_collect::<Vec<_>>()
+            .await
+            .expect("Failed to collect results");
+
+        assert_eq!(results.len(), 1);
+        assert_eq!(results[0].num_rows(), 5);
+        assert_eq!(table.namespace(), &["test_ns"]);
+        assert_eq!(table.id(), "test_ns$declared_test");
+    }
+
     #[tokio::test]
     async fn test_namespace_create_table_exist_ok_mode() {
         // Setup: Create a temporary directory for the namespace