lancedb/docs/web/basics/sdk.mdx

---
title: "SDKs"
sidebarTitle: "SDKs"
description: "The language clients — Python, TypeScript, Rust — and what stays true across all of them."
icon: code-compare
keywords: ["python", "typescript", "rust", "java", "sdk", "rest", "api reference"]
---

A language SDK is the primary way to work with LanceDB: create and manage
tables, write and query data, build indexes, run feature engineering. The same
table API works whether you're connected to an embedded database or an
Enterprise deployment -- application code moves between the two by changing
the connection URI.

## Officially supported SDKs {#supported-sdks}

Python, TypeScript and Rust are supported against both embedded and deployed
LanceDB.

| Reference | Description |
|:--------------|-------------------|
| <Icon icon="python" /> [Python](https://lancedb.github.io/lancedb/python/python/) | Full-featured Python client with pandas and numpy integration |
| <Icon icon="square-js" /> [TypeScript](https://lancedb.github.io/lancedb/js/) | A TypeScript wrapper around the Rust library, built with `napi-rs` |
| <Icon icon="rust" /> [Rust](https://docs.rs/lancedb/latest/lancedb/index.html) | Native Rust library with persistent storage and high performance |

Not every SDK covers the same surface, though:

| | Python | TypeScript |
| --- | :---: | :---: |
| Create and manage catalog objects | yes | yes |
| Insert, merge, update, delete | yes | yes |
| Filter, project, aggregate, join | yes | yes |
| Vector search | yes | yes |
| Full-text search | yes | yes |
| Feature engineering, jobs | yes | partly |
| Runs against a local database | yes | yes |

TypeScript has no methods for [functions](/management/function). Reach the
gap with SQL instead -- see [SQL](/basics/sql).

## REST API {#rest}

<Badge color="red">Enterprise</Badge> A deployment implements the
[Lance REST Namespace](/basics/lance#enterprise), so the catalog is reachable
over HTTP by anything that speaks it -- see the
[REST API reference](/api-reference/rest).

| Reference | Description |
|:--------------|-------------------|
| <Icon icon="java" /> [Java](https://lancedb.github.io/lancedb/java/java/) | REST API Enterprise SDK in Java |

## Community SDKs {#community-sdks}

Contributed by the community rather than supported by LanceDB, so feature parity
and release cadence vary.

| Reference | Description |
|:--------------|-------------------|
| <Icon icon="golang" /> [Go](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/lancedb/lancedb-go/pkg/lancedb) | Community-contributed Go SDK |
| <Icon icon="gem" /> [Ruby](https://github.com/scientist-labs/lancelot) | Community-contributed Ruby bindings |
| <Icon icon="swift" /> [Swift](https://github.com/RyanLisse/LanceDbSwiftKit) | Community-contributed Swift SDK |
| <Icon icon="R" /> [R](https://github.com/CathalByrneGit/lancedb) | Community-contributed R package |
| <Icon icon="flutter" /> [Flutter](https://github.com/Alexcn/flutter_lancedb) | Community-contributed Flutter bindings |

For any other language, [SQL](/basics/sql) reaches the same tables without a
LanceDB-specific SDK at all.

## Python multiprocessing {#multiprocessing}

<Warning>
Do not use `fork` as the start method with Python's `multiprocessing` module.
Lance is multi-threaded internally, and `fork` with alive threads is unsafe --
use `spawn` instead. See
[this discussion](https://discuss.python.org/t/concerns-regarding-deprecation-of-fork-with-alive-threads/33555)
for why.
</Warning>

## What stays the same {#invariants}

Whichever you pick:

- **Types are Arrow types.** A vector column is a `FixedSizeList<Float32>`
  everywhere, not a SQL type mapped onto storage. See
  [Functions and types](/sql/functions).
- **Reads are Arrow.** Nothing is serialized into language objects on the way out
  unless you convert it.
- **The catalog is one catalog.** A table created from TypeScript is visible to
  Python and to SQL immediately -- there is no per-language namespace.

## What to read next {#next}

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="SQL" icon="table-list" href="/basics/sql">
    The same tables, reached by any Flight SQL client -- and the one way in for a language with no SDK.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Agentic Skills" icon="robot" href="/basics/agentic-skills">
    Give a coding agent a current reference to this same API surface.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>