SQL

Beacon runs SQL through DataFusion. A SQL query goes to the same endpoint as a JSON query:

POST /api/query
Content-Type: application/json

{ "sql": "SELECT time, temperature FROM default LIMIT 10" }

WARNING

SQL is on by default. Set the environment variable BEACON_ENABLE_SQL=false to switch it off. A request with "sql": "..." then returns an error.

Query a registered table

List the available tables:

GET /api/tables

Run a SQL query on a table:

POST /api/query
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "sql": "SELECT time, latitude, longitude, temperature FROM default WHERE temperature > 5 LIMIT 1000",
  "output": { "format": "csv" }
}

Inspect the schema of the table:

GET /api/table-schema?table_name=default

Query files directly

A table function queries files. You register no table first. Beacon resolves a path against its dataset root. A path also takes a glob pattern.

The table function reference holds every table function and its signature. GET /api/table-functions is deprecated. It returns an empty list.

NetCDF

POST /api/query
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "sql": "SELECT time, latitude, longitude FROM read_netcdf(['argo/**/*.nc']) LIMIT 100",
  "output": { "format": "csv" }
}

Zarr

POST /api/query
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "sql": "SELECT time, sst FROM read_zarr(['sst/*/zarr.json']) LIMIT 100",
  "output": { "format": "csv" }
}

Predicate pushdown is automatic. Beacon prunes the chunks and slices the coordinate dimensions. It uses your WHERE clause. You configure no extra argument:

POST /api/query
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "sql": "SELECT time, latitude, longitude, sst FROM read_zarr(['sst/*/zarr.json']) WHERE time >= '2025-01-01' LIMIT 1000",
  "output": { "format": "csv" }
}

Parquet

POST /api/query
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "sql": "SELECT * FROM read_parquet(['obs/**/*.parquet']) LIMIT 100",
  "output": { "format": "csv" }
}

The other table functions are read_arrow, read_csv, read_odv_ascii, read_bbf and read_tiff. See Read Files for the full signatures.

Output formats

See Querying, Output formats for the full list. Put output next to sql in the same request body:

POST /api/query
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "sql": "SELECT longitude, latitude, time, temperature FROM default LIMIT 100000",
  "output": {
    "format": {
      "geoparquet": { "longitude_column": "longitude", "latitude_column": "latitude" }
    }
  }
}

Explain and metrics

Get the physical plan of a SQL query:

POST /api/explain-query
Content-Type: application/json

{ "sql": "SELECT * FROM default LIMIT 10" }

Fetch the metrics after the query. The query ID comes from the x-beacon-query-id response header:

GET /api/query/metrics/{query_id}

Only the user that ran the query and the super-user get the metrics. Other users get 404.