Arrow IPC

Read the files

read_arrow(glob_paths)

Beacon reads Arrow IPC stream files (.arrow, .feather).

SELECT * FROM read_arrow('streams/*.arrow')

Inspect the schema

Check the columns and the types before you write a query:

SELECT * FROM read_arrow('cruises/*.arrow') LIMIT 0;

Inspect a schema compares the _schema functions, SUMMARIZE, DESCRIBE and LIMIT 0, and says what each one costs.

Format details

Beacon fully supports this format. It reads an Arrow IPC stream file (.arrow, .feather) directly with zero-copy column access.

As an external table

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE cruise_data
STORED AS ARROW
LOCATION 'cruises/'

See Create External Tables for the full DDL. See Data Sources for the full read model.