Capabilities

Tip

This page summarizes which SurrealDB schema features are supported by unreal-orm. For details on usage, see the Introduction doc.

DEFINE TABLE Features

Feature	SurrealDB Syntax Example	unreal-orm Support	Notes
Basic Table Definition	DEFINE TABLE user;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ name: 'user', ... })
IF NOT EXISTS	DEFINE TABLE user IF NOT EXISTS;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ ..., method: 'IF NOT EXISTS' })
OVERWRITE	DEFINE TABLE user OVERWRITE;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ ..., method: 'OVERWRITE' })
SCHEMAFULL	DEFINE TABLE user SCHEMAFULL;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ ..., schemafull: true }) or implicit if fields defined & no other type.
SCHEMALESS	DEFINE TABLE user SCHEMALESS;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ ..., type: 'schemaless' })
TYPE NORMAL	DEFINE TABLE user TYPE NORMAL;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ ..., type: 'normal' })
TYPE ANY	DEFINE TABLE user TYPE ANY;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ ..., type: 'any' })
TYPE RELATION IN ... OUT ...	DEFINE TABLE likes TYPE RELATION IN user OUT post;	⚠️ Partially	No direct type: 'relation' option. Define in/out fields as Field.record(). ENFORCED not supported.
ENFORCED (for TYPE RELATION)	DEFINE TABLE likes TYPE RELATION ... ENFORCED;	❌ Not Supported	Tied to full TYPE RELATION syntax.
Table View (AS SELECT ...)	DEFINE TABLE user_view AS SELECT ... FROM user;	❌ Not Supported
CHANGEFEED @duration [INCLUDE ORIGINAL]	DEFINE TABLE user CHANGEFEED 1h;	❌ Not Supported
PERMISSIONS (Table-level)	DEFINE TABLE user PERMISSIONS FOR select WHERE ...;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ ..., permissions: { select: '...' } })
COMMENT @string	DEFINE TABLE user COMMENT 'User accounts';	✅ Supported	Table.define({ ..., comment: '...' })
DROP (within DEFINE TABLE)	DEFINE TABLE user DROP;	❌ Not Supported	REMOVE TABLE is a separate operation, not part of Table.define.

DEFINE FIELD Features

Feature	SurrealDB Syntax Example	unreal-orm Support	Notes
Basic Field Definition	DEFINE FIELD email ON user;	✅ Supported	Via fields object in Table.define({ fields: { email: Field.string() } }).
IF NOT EXISTS (Field-level)	DEFINE FIELD email ON user IF NOT EXISTS;	❌ Not Supported	ORM regenerates the whole schema.
OVERWRITE (Field-level)	DEFINE FIELD email ON user OVERWRITE;	❌ Not Supported	ORM regenerates the whole schema.
TYPE @type (various types)	DEFINE FIELD age ON user TYPE number;	⚠️ Partially	See “Data Type Support” section below for detailed coverage.
FLEXIBLE TYPE @type	DEFINE FIELD meta ON user FLEXIBLE TYPE object;	✅ Supported	Use { flexible: true } with Field.object() or Field.custom(). Enables flexible schemas for object/custom fields.
DEFAULT @expression	DEFINE FIELD role ON user TYPE string DEFAULT 'guest';	✅ Supported	Field.string({ default: 'guest' }). Handles primitives, time::now(), functions.
DEFAULT ALWAYS @expression	DEFINE FIELD updated_at ON user TYPE datetime DEFAULT ALWAYS time::now();	❌ Not Supported	Only standard DEFAULT is supported.
VALUE @expression	DEFINE FIELD created_at ON user VALUE time::now();	✅ Supported	Field.string({ value: 'time::now()' }) or e.g. Field.string({ value: 'string::lowercase($value)' })
VALUE <future> { @expression }	DEFINE FIELD last_accessed ON user VALUE <future> { time::now() };	❌ Not Supported	Only standard VALUE is supported, not VALUE .
ASSERT @expression	DEFINE FIELD email ON user ASSERT string::is::email($value);	✅ Supported	Field.string({ assert: 'string::is::email($value)' })
READONLY	DEFINE FIELD id ON user READONLY;	✅ Supported	Field.string({ readonly: true })
PERMISSIONS (Field-level)	DEFINE FIELD email ON user PERMISSIONS FOR select WHERE...;	✅ Supported	Field.string({ permissions: { ... } })
COMMENT @string	DEFINE FIELD email ON user COMMENT 'User email';	✅ Supported	Field.string({ comment: '...' })
REFERENCE (with ON DELETE actions)	DEFINE FIELD author ON post TYPE record<user> REFERENCE ON DELETE CASCADE;	❌ Not Supported
Define type for id field	DEFINE FIELD id ON user TYPE string;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ fields: { id: Field.custom({ type: 'string' }) } })
Define types for specific array indices	DEFINE FIELD data[0] ON mytable TYPE string;	❌ Not Supported	Field.array(Field.string()) defines type for all items.

DEFINE INDEX Features

Feature	SurrealDB Syntax Example	unreal-orm Support	Notes
Basic Index Definition	DEFINE INDEX user_email ON user COLUMNS email;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ indexes: { user_email: { fields: ['email'] } } })
IF NOT EXISTS (Index-level)	DEFINE INDEX user_email ON user IF NOT EXISTS ...;	❌ Not Supported	ORM regenerates the whole schema.
OVERWRITE (Index-level)	DEFINE INDEX user_email ON user OVERWRITE ...;	❌ Not Supported	ORM regenerates the whole schema.
UNIQUE Index	DEFINE INDEX user_email ON user COLUMNS email UNIQUE;	✅ Supported	Table.define({ indexes: { user_email: { fields: ['email'], unique: true } } })
SEARCH ANALYZER (Full-Text Search)	DEFINE INDEX ... SEARCH ANALYZER ... BM25 HIGHLIGHTS;	⚠️ Partially	Basic index definition is supported. Specific FTS keywords (SEARCH ANALYZER, BM25) require manual setup or are not exposed.
Vector Index (MTREE, HNSW)	DEFINE INDEX ... MTREE DIMENSION ...;	❌ Not Supported
COMMENT @string	DEFINE INDEX user_email ON user ... COMMENT '...';	✅ Supported	Table.define({ indexes: { user_email: { ..., comment: '...' } } })
CONCURRENTLY	DEFINE INDEX user_email ON user ... CONCURRENTLY;	❌ Not Supported

Other DEFINE Statements

unreal-orm primarily focuses on schema generation for tables, fields, and indexes. Other DEFINE statements are not yet supported by the ORM.

Feature	SurrealDB Syntax Example	unreal-orm Support	Notes
DEFINE NAMESPACE	DEFINE NAMESPACE test;	❌ Not Supported	Operates within a given DB/NS connection.
DEFINE DATABASE	DEFINE DATABASE test;	❌ Not Supported
DEFINE USER	DEFINE USER ...;	❌ Not Supported
DEFINE TOKEN	DEFINE TOKEN ...;	❌ Not Supported
DEFINE SCOPE	DEFINE SCOPE ...;	❌ Not Supported
DEFINE ANALYZER	DEFINE ANALYZER ...;	❌ Not Supported
DEFINE EVENT	DEFINE EVENT ... ON TABLE ...;	❌ Not Supported
DEFINE FUNCTION	DEFINE FUNCTION fn::abc() ...;	❌ Not Supported
DEFINE PARAM	DEFINE PARAM $myparam ...;	❌ Not Supported

Data Type Support

Field Definition Examples

import { Table, Field } from 'unreal-orm';

const User = Table.define({
  name: 'user',
  fields: {
    name: Field.string({ assert: '$value.length > 2', comment: 'User name' }),
    age: Field.number({ assert: '$value >= 0', default: '0' }),
    isActive: Field.bool({ default: 'true' }),
    createdAt: Field.datetime({ default: 'time::now()' }),
    profile: Field.object({
      bio: Field.string(),
      website: Field.option(Field.string()),
    }),
    tags: Field.array(Field.string(), { max: 10 }),
    posts: Field.array(Field.record((): any => Post), { max: 100 }),
    author: Field.record((): any => User),
    nickname: Field.option(Field.string()),
    customField: Field.custom<number>('duration'),
  },
  indexes: [
    { name: 'user_name_idx', fields: ['name'], unique: true },
  ],
``}]},{