Namespaces

Creating a namespace

create namespace registers the container; from then on, every reference to an object inside it uses the :: separator. Run the snippets on this page in order:

Names are scoped, not global

Two namespaces can hold objects with the same name without conflict. This is the natural way to separate environments, tenants, or subsystems inside one database: prod::orders and staging::orders are entirely distinct tables.

Idempotent creation

if not exists makes creation safe to re-run, which matters for setup scripts and migrations. The result reports created: false when the namespace was already there:

Nested namespaces

Namespaces nest. Creating dm_ns::internal places a child namespace under dm_ns, and objects inside it are addressed with the full path, for example dm_ns::internal::audit. Use nesting to group related state without inventing name prefixes:

Inspecting namespaces

The system catalog is itself queryable. system::namespaces lists every namespace with its full name, its local name, and the id of its parent - nested namespaces show up as children of the namespace that contains them:

The system namespace also exposes system::tables, system::views, system::policies, and storage metrics. Reads on system::* are policy-gated for non-root identities.

Where to go next

• --Tables - the primary shape for authoritative state
• --Policies - control what each identity may read and write, per namespace or per object
• --Data Model overview - all primitives at a glance