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A view definition was a structured record under a `kind` tag, one kind per query shape, and a Function returning `list<struct>` was about to add a third. That names shapes instead of describing a relation. A materialized view is now a relation defined by a query, stored as one canonical SQL string under a format number: ```sql SELECT columns FROM [ns.]table [, function(args) AS alias | , UNNEST(column) AS alias] [WHERE predicate] [LIMIT n] ``` Any other clause is refused at parse time. Older readers report the view as unrefreshable, the pre-format layouts still read, and a legacy view is rewritten on its next refresh that commits, rebuilt only where its raw text meant something else under lance's parser. A Function in FROM position yields one row per element it returns, as a table function does in any dialect. The server stages its list output in a hidden table and records that binding beside the query, which stays as the user wrote it; refresh scans the staging and unnests the column, the same operator as UNNEST over a list column the table already holds. Row ids repeat per element, so eviction and incremental append are unchanged. A local database refuses a Function in FROM position, since it has no executor.