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Data packages (EXPORT & partitions)

A rows table's sealed state can be bundled into a single portable file and mounted onto another node as a named partition — no WAL, no re-import, sealed columnar data changing owners. This is how a producer ships prepared data to consumers: build a package once, attach it anywhere the schema matches, detach it as instantly as it arrived.

These verbs are rows-table only and need an admin or the database owner (a timeseries table has no current-state to package).

EXPORT TABLE​

EXPORT TABLE osm_nodes TO '/data/turkey-2026-07.pkg';
-- → one row: path, bytes, channels

Export folds everything sealed and compacts each channel down to one segment, then writes a bundle carrying a manifest (format version, the table name, and each channel's name and type) plus one segment file per channel. A table that already carries attached packages cannot be exported — export runs on a producer table, not a consumer.

ATTACH PARTITION​

ATTACH PARTITION osm_nodes AS 'turkey-2026-07' FROM '/data/turkey-2026-07.pkg';
-- → one row: partition, id

Attach unpacks the bundle and maps its channels by name onto this table's catalog. Every data-bearing channel in the bundle must exist here with the same name and the same type — the frozen-schema contract, so a bundle built on any node fits any node with a matching table. Once mounted, the partition's rows read exactly like the table's own; attaching does not touch the live data or the WAL.

DETACH PARTITION​

DETACH PARTITION osm_nodes 'turkey-2026-07';

Removes the named partition. The bundle it came from is untouched; only the mount goes away.

SHOW PARTITIONS​

SHOW PARTITIONS FROM osm_nodes;   -- partition, id

Lists the packages currently attached to a table.

The shape of a distribution​

Producer and consumer never share a process. The producer builds and signs packages on its own schedule; consumers attach what they need:

-- on the producer
EXPORT TABLE osm_nodes TO '/build/turkey-2026-07.pkg';

-- on each consumer (same rows-table schema)
ATTACH PARTITION osm_nodes AS 'turkey-2026-07' FROM '/downloads/turkey-2026-07.pkg';
-- ...serve reads...
DETACH PARTITION osm_nodes 'turkey-2025-12';   -- retire last month's package

Identical sealed segments are hard-linked on attach, so re-attaching a package that overlaps one already present costs no extra disk. Build a dataset once, distribute the file, attach it on every node that needs it — a curated-data distribution model without a replication protocol.