SQL Reference

KalamDB is SQL-first with additional commands for realtime subscriptions, storage lifecycle, topics, and cluster operations.

This chapter is organized by command category so you can jump directly to implementation details.

For the architecture behind common SQL choices, start with /docs/server/architecture/table-types, /docs/server/architecture/storage-tiers, and /docs/server/architecture/live-query.

SQL Categories

Category	Description
/docs/server/sql-reference/namespaces	create/drop/select namespace context
/docs/server/sql-reference/tables	create/alter/drop tables and views
/docs/server/sql-reference/dml	`INSERT`, `UPDATE`, `DELETE`, `SELECT`
/docs/server/sql-reference/query-data	query patterns, joins, CTEs, and DataFusion-compatible SELECT usage
/docs/server/sql-reference/system-views	`system.*` observability views including `system.sessions` and `system.transactions`
/docs/server/sql-reference/subscriptions	`SUBSCRIBE TO`, `KILL LIVE QUERY`
/docs/server/sql-reference/topic-pubsub	topic pub/sub SQL syntax for `CREATE TOPIC`, `CONSUME`, `ACK`, and consumer groups
/docs/server/sql-reference/users	create/alter/drop users and roles
/docs/server/sql-reference/storage	storage backends, flush, compact, manifests
/docs/server/sql-reference/storage-id-usage	table-to-storage mapping patterns
/docs/server/sql-reference/cluster	raft and node operations
/docs/server/sql-reference/backup	namespace backup/recovery commands
/docs/server/sql-reference/impersonation	`EXECUTE AS '<user_id>'` wrapper syntax
/docs/server/sql-reference/functions	KalamDB built-ins plus DataFusion SQL function support

Statement Separator

SQL

1SELECT 1;2SELECT 2;

Quick Example

SQL

1CREATE NAMESPACE IF NOT EXISTS chat;2 3CREATE TABLE chat.messages (4  id BIGINT PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT SNOWFLAKE_ID(),5  sender TEXT NOT NULL,6  content TEXT NOT NULL,7  created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW()8) WITH (TYPE = 'USER', FLUSH_POLICY = 'rows:1000');9 10INSERT INTO chat.messages (sender, content)11VALUES ('alice', 'Hello world!');12 13SELECT * FROM chat.messages ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 20;