Query language

Ask a table for rows by condition, follow references in a path, and group and count, in one line the address keeps.

invoice total >= 500 sort total desc

Type it into the bar above any table. Every example on this page runs against npx tablewalk --demo.

What you’ll see

• Only the matching rows, with a count that stops at 10,000 and says so.
• The line written into the address (/demo/invoice%20total%20%3E%3D%20500…), so a copied link reruns it.
• SQL beside the result shows the statement it compiled to, with every value bound as a parameter.

When to use it

• Use the query bar when you know the condition, not the record: overdue, over a limit, missing an email.
• Use the walk instead when you start from one record and want what is around it.
• Use raw SQL only for what the language cannot say (window functions, unions); it shows the same result grid but checks nothing for you.

Conditions

The table comes first; conditions, columns, sort and limit follow.

customer active = true sort credit_limit desc
customer country_code in (AU, NZ) and email is not empty
employee title contains manager show first_name, last_name
invoice total between 100 and 1000 and status = issued
invoice invoice_date = last 30 days

Intent	Spelling
Compare	=, !=, <, <=, >, >=, between a and b
Compare two values	qty < reorder_at, paid < owed (a rollup): beside a number, a date or a flag, a bare word naming a column, rollup or computed column is its value; beside text it stays a word. An App’s lists, segments and when guards
Match text	contains, startswith, endswith (case-insensitive where the database allows)
Match a set	in (AU, NZ), not in (AU, NZ)
Check null	is empty, is not empty
A machine’s states	status is open (not final), status is onBench (a group it names), is not for the rest
Combine	and, or, parentheses
Choose columns	show (or select), with as to rename
Order and cut	sort column desc (or order by), limit 20

Dates are phrases: today, yesterday, this week, last month, this quarter, last 30 days, next 7 days; previous 30 days is the window just before last 30 days. Hours and minutes count from the instant: due_at = next 2 hours is due within two hours, updated_at = last 30 minutes changed just now. now is the instant itself: resolution_due_at < now is past due, in a segment, a list’s query and a metric’s alike. this quarter, last quarter and next quarter are calendar quarters, from January, April, July and October; an App has no fiscal year to start them elsewhere. A value with a space is quoted: name = "Kereru Coffee".

Follow a reference in a query

A dotted path walks a foreign key, as many steps as the schema has:

invoice show id, total, customer_id.name as customer where total >= 500
invoice customer_id.name startswith K

Ask about the rows that point here

any asks whether a record has a row of another table pointing at it, and where what that row must hold; no asks for none:

customer any invoice where status = void
customer no invoice
product any invoice_line where invoice_id.status = paid
employee no employee via manager_id

When the other table points here through two references, via names the one meant. Two any conditions may each be held by a different row; for one row holding both, put both inside one: any invoice where (status = paid and total > 500). In an App, a tab, a segment and a list’s { has } filter say the same.

Group and measure

Measures come before by, then up to three grouping keys:

invoice count by status
invoice count, sum total as billed by month invoice_date sort billed desc limit 12
invoice where total > 100 count by customer_id.country_code.name as country
customer count distinct country_code as countries by active

Measures: count, count column, count distinct column, sum, avg, min, max. Date buckets: day, month, quarter, year. Here sort names a column of the answer (billed), not a path.

Common mistakes

• "totl" is not a column on invoice. Did you mean "total"? → paths are checked against the catalog, so a typo is an error, never an empty result; take the suggestion.
• customer_id.name = Kereru Coffee is refused → quote a value with a space: = "Kereru Coffee".
• Nothing called "total" is in this breakdown → after by, sort names a column of the answer: sort billed desc.
• An App’s tab or when will not parse → it is this same language; the query-grammar check code says at which character. In an App the strings are typed too, where the TypeScript project registers exactly one App’s schema (the limit).

Related

• Walk a database: follow one record’s references by clicking.
• MCP for coding agents: query and breakdown take these lines verbatim.
• Keyboard: / focuses the bar; ⌘/ opens it as a panel.
• Lists: an App’s tabs and filters are written in this language.