This page summarizes current product limits. Linked workflow pages contain the exact syntax and examples.

Client

• The public spiral CLI currently exposes sql, flight, and app.
• The direct spiral-sql binary is available for crate-local SQL client development.
• Tables are registered per REPL session.
• There is no persistent local catalog yet.
• .open registers Vortex files only; built-in table functions can also read local Vortex, Arrow IPC, and Parquet files.

SQL

• The binder supports at most one FROM relation.
• Joins, CTEs, derived tables, set operations, DISTINCT, QUALIFY, and window functions are not yet bound.
• GROUP BY and ORDER BY accept scalar expressions, but GROUP BY ALL is not supported.
• ORDER BY without LIMIT only supports ascending NULLS FIRST ordering.
• Function call DISTINCT, FILTER, call-level ORDER BY, OVER, and parameters are not supported.
• Function calls and table-function calls can use named arguments, subject to the registered function’s parameter names.
• LIKE and ILIKE are supported; subquery expressions, tuples, arrays, and other pattern forms are represented but not bound.

Data definition and loading

• CREATE TABLE name (...) creates in-memory REPL tables.
• CREATE VIEW name AS query creates a session catalog entry with a bound logical plan.
• CREATE TABLE name AS query materializes a query result into a session-local in-memory table.
• INSERT accepts literal VALUES only.
• INSERT ... SELECT, constraints, defaults, primary keys, generated columns, and external table options are not supported for in-memory tables.
• In-memory TEXT columns do not currently accept NULL values.
• The interactive .open command does not expand shell globs.
• spql.vortex.read, spql.arrow.read_ipc, and spql.parquet.read accept one literal local path. Arrow IPC currently materializes file batches into a Values plan; Parquet reads use a scan source with projection, filter, and limit pushdown.
• COPY TO supports local file targets and registered formats. Vortex output is built in; Arrow IPC output is registered by the default CLI plugin; Parquet output is not implemented.

Planned surfaces

• Extension packages for modality-specific table functions beyond the current Blob/JPEG/EXIF primitives.
• Rich batch and artifact delivery.
• Additional client commands beyond sql, flight, and app.

Planned surfaces should remain marked as Experimental: Contact Us until they are implemented in the public client.