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System Columns

Metaxy reserves a set of system-managed columns that it attaches to user-defined feature metadata tables. These columns are part of the storage interface and are used by the metadata store. Learn more about the storage layout design here.

Canonical column names

Canonical name Explanation Level Type
metaxy_provenance_by_field Derived from upstream data versions and code version per field sample struct
metaxy_provenance Hash of metaxy_provenance_by_field sample string
metaxy_data_version_by_field Defaults to metaxy_provenance_by_field, can be user-defined sample struct
metaxy_data_version Hash of metaxy_data_version_by_field sample string
metaxy_feature_version Derived from versions of relevant upstream fields feature string
metaxy_project_version Derived from all Metaxy features which belong to the same Project project string
metaxy_definition_version Hash of the feature spec and Pydantic model schema feature string
metaxy_created_at Timestamp when the metadata row was created sample string
metaxy_updated_at Timestamp when the metadata row was last written to the store sample string
metaxy_deleted_at Timestamp when the metadata row was soft-deleted (null if active) sample string
metaxy_materialization_id External orchestration run ID (e.g., Dagster, Airflow) for tracking run string

All system column names start with the metaxy_ prefix.

Example Table

id metaxy_feature_version metaxy_data_version metaxy_data_version_by_field metaxy_provenance metaxy_provenance_by_field metaxy_created_at metaxy_updated_at metaxy_deleted_at
video_001 a1b2c3d4 e7f8a9b0 {"audio": "a7f3c2d8", "frames": "b9e1f4a2"} e7f8a9b0 {"audio": "a7f3c2d8", "frames": "b9e1f4a2"} 2024-01-15T10:30:00Z 2024-01-15T10:30:00Z null
video_002 a1b2c3d4 c1e4b9d8 {"audio": "d4b8e9c1", "frames": "f2a6d7b3"} c1e4b9d8 {"audio": "d4b8e9c1", "frames": "f2a6d7b3"} 2024-01-15T10:31:00Z 2024-01-15T10:31:00Z null
video_003 a1b2c3d4 k1j2ah7v {"audio": "custom01", "frames": "custom02"} a8e2f4c9 {"audio": "c9f2a8e4", "frames": "e7d3b1c5"} 2024-01-15T10:32:00Z 2024-01-16T14:20:00Z null
video_001 f5d6e7c8 b2c3d4e5 {"audio": "b1e4f9a7", "frames": "a8c2e6d9"} b2c3d4e5 {"audio": "b1e4f9a7", "frames": "a8c2e6d9"} 2024-01-18T09:00:00Z 2024-01-18T09:00:00Z null

It can also contain custom user-defined columns (1).

  1. and in fact, id is such a column, because ID columns are customizable