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Tablewalk

Resources and fields

Declare the tables an App serves, which of them it writes or deletes, and which columns no reader ever receives.

examples/apps/lintel/resources.ts
export const resources = {
  // …
  property: {
    access: 'write',
    // …
  property_photo: {
    access: 'write',
    delete: true,
    // …
  staff: {
    recordLabel: 'name',
  },

See it in the sample (examples/apps/lintel/resources.ts:19) (other keys left out); Sample Apps says how to run Lintel.

Lintel’s Alder Court: a building the App writes, its photos taking Attach files beside the building’s own fields.

What you’ll see

Section titled “What you’ll see”
  • New and Edit on buildings, and New, Edit and Delete on their photos; staff are read, with no New and no Delete.
  • A table the App does not declare is not there: no address and no metadata, and every endpoint answers as if it did not exist.
  • authority.lock beside the App records each resource and what it may do, and tablewalk check fails when that changes unreviewed.

When to use it, and when not

Section titled “When to use it, and when not”
  • Declare every table a view, page, label path or rollup reads; {} is enough, because a declared resource reads by default.
  • Use hidden for a column no one may ever receive (a password hash, a cost); use a role’s fields instead when some signed-in readers may see it (roles and field access).
  • Use the standalone database browser instead for tables nobody curates: raw SQL, the schema browser and the connection manager are its tools, never an App’s.

Options

Section titled “Options”
Key What it does Default Status
{} Declares the resource; it reads not served Stable
access: 'write' New, Save and edits; the ceiling roles grant within reads only Stable
delete: true Offers Delete; needs access: 'write' no Delete Stable
hidden: [...] Columns cut from metadata, results, exports and the API; a query naming one is refused; no role grants it back none Stable
fields: { read, write } A column ceiling for signed-in roles; needs auth.roles every column Stable
recordLabel, noun, labels What names a record, what one is called, column captions the name column Stable

Another, with what a dealer paid kept from every reader (illustrative: no shipped example hides a column this way):

vehicle: { ...resources.vehicle, hidden: ['cost'] },

Writes need the connection too: nothing writes unless tablewalk.json says "writable": true, and the server checks it in every route and tool that writes, not the UI. Every read runs in a read-only transaction. Every key: resources reference.

Common mistakes

Section titled “Common mistakes”
  • [unknown-resource] or [outside-ceiling]: a view or a role names a table the App does not declare, or writes one without access: 'write' → declare it, with access: 'write' where it is written.
  • has "fields" and no "access" or [needs-auth] → fields is for signed-in roles; without sign-in, use hidden.
  • Every column reaches any browser that reaches the port when there is no auth → keep the server on loopback (the default), add sign-in, and hidden the secrets.
Section titled “Related”