lancedb/docs/web/management/materialized-view.mdx

---
title: "Materialized view"
sidebarTitle: "Materialized View"
description: "Create, open, list and drop a table whose contents are defined by a query."
icon: table
keywords: ["materialized view", "create_materialized_view", "catalog", "ddl"]
---

A materialized view is a table whose contents are defined by a query over
another table. The query is recorded in the view's schema, and a refresh
brings its stored rows up to date with the source.

The result is an ordinary table -- queryable, indexable, searchable, and present
in `table_names()`. Nothing about reading it is special.

This page covers creating and managing one. Keeping it current is
[Refresh a materialized view](/feature-engineering/materialized-views).

<Note>
In SQL, see [`REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW`](/sql/dml/refresh#refresh-materialized-view) and [`SHOW MATERIALIZED VIEWS`](/sql/ddl/materialized-view#show).
</Note>

## Creating one {#create}

<CodeGroup>
```python Python icon="python"
view = db.create_materialized_view(
    "recent_docs",
    source="documents",
    select=["id", "title", "embedding"],
    where="created_at > '2026-01-01'",
)
```

```typescript TypeScript icon="square-js"
const view = await db.createMaterializedView("recent_docs", "documents", {
  select: ["id", "title", "embedding"],
  where: "created_at > '2026-01-01'",
});
```
</CodeGroup>

`source` names the table it derives from. A local source does not need stable
row ids or any other storage option; a deployment may require stable row ids
(see [Against a deployment](#deployment)). `select`, `where` and `limit` record
the query -- there is no separate definition step.

## Opening, listing and dropping {#manage}

| | Python | TypeScript | SQL |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| create | `create_materialized_view` | `createMaterializedView` | `CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW` |
| open | `open_materialized_view` | `openMaterializedView` | -- |
| list | `list_materialized_views` | `listMaterializedViews` | `SHOW MATERIALIZED VIEWS` |
| refresh | `refresh` | `refresh` | `REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW` |
| drop | `drop_table` | `dropTable` | `DROP TABLE` |

<Note>
`list_materialized_views` finds views by reading every table's schema, so it
costs one open per table. `SHOW MATERIALIZED VIEWS` asks the server instead and
is cheaper on a catalog with many tables.
</Note>

A view is dropped with `drop_table`, because a materialized view **is** a table.
That also means dropping one removes stored rows -- unlike dropping a
[view](/management/view), which removes only a saved query.

## Working with the view {#working}

`view.table` is the underlying table, for querying, indexing, or search.
`view.definition` is the recorded query -- select list, predicate, limit
-- which is how you check what a view contains without inferring it from the
rows. Both are properties; on an async view, the definition is read with
`await view.definition()`.

## Against a deployment {#deployment}

<Badge color="red">Enterprise</Badge> `create_materialized_view` works on a
`db://` connection as well as a local one. There the SDK creates and refreshes
the view through SQL, and the work runs on the cluster rather than in your
process. Materialized views are off by default on a deployment and have to be
enabled there, and a deployment may require a view's source to have stable row
ids; see
[Against a deployment](/feature-engineering/materialized-views#availability).

## What to read next {#next}

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Refresh a materialized view" icon="arrows-rotate" href="/feature-engineering/materialized-views">
    How a refresh works, and what it writes.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Views" icon="eye" href="/management/view">
    The non-materialized counterpart, defined in SQL.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>