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dantasse merged 1 commit into from
Aug 26, 2026
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Update from code changes: canonical field metadata keys #343

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18 changes: 18 additions & 0 deletions docs/tables/schema.mdx
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Expand Up @@ -403,6 +403,24 @@ You can pass multiple updates in a single call to change metadata on several fie
each call commits a single new table version.
</Tip>

### Canonical metadata keys

You can use any string as a metadata key. By convention, LanceDB treats keys prefixed with
`lancedb:` as canonical. LanceDB Enterprise displays these keys in the UI, and agents can rely
on finding this information in a consistent place. Use them when they fit your use case:

| Key | Purpose | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `lancedb:description` | Human-readable description of the field. | `"CLIP embedding of the product image"` |
| `lancedb:tag:<name>` | User-defined key/value tag, where the suffix names the tag category. | `"lancedb:tag:model": "clip"` |
| `lancedb:logical-column` | Groups related columns into one logical column. For example, `feature_v1` and `feature_v2` might belong to the same logical column. | `"lancedb:logical-column": "feature"` |
| `lancedb:status` | Life cycle state of the column: `production`, `candidate`, `deprecated`, or `archived`. | `"lancedb:status": "production"` |

<Note>
These keys are conventions, not enforced constraints. LanceDB does not validate their values,
but following the conventions keeps your tables consistent with Enterprise tooling.
</Note>

## Drop columns

You can remove columns using the [`drop_columns`](https://lancedb.github.io/lancedb/python/python/#lancedb.table.Table.drop_columns)
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