Complete Example

This example shows one CSDB file with two related tables and one minimal table.

--- csdb
format: CSDB
version: 1
name: payroll
machine_indexing:
  enabled: true
  machine_key_width: 80
  machine_value_width: 40
  section_title_length: 80
  footer_entry_count: 1
tables:
  - workers
  - sessions
  - tags
comments:
  database: Payroll and work-session records.

--- table:workers:schema
name: workers
columns:
  id: text
  name: text
  email: text
  home_path: path
type_options:
  email: {option: key, option2: key}
required:
  - id
  - name
  - email
defaults: {}
primary_key:
  columns: [id]
unique:
  - [email]
foreign_keys: []
constraints: []
indexes:
  - name: workers_email_idx
    columns: [email]
    unique: true
computed_fields: {}
comments:
  table: People who can work sessions.
  columns:
    home_path: Optional writable filesystem path.
  indexes:
    workers_email_idx: Supports email lookups.

--- table:workers:data
id,name,email,home_path
w_001,Ada Lovelace,ada@example.com,/users/ada
w_002,Grace Hopper,grace@example.com,/users/grace

--- table:sessions:schema
name: sessions
columns:
  id: text
  worker_id: text
  start_time: timestamp
  end_time: timestamp
  hourly_pay: numeric
  metadata: json
required:
  - id
  - worker_id
  - start_time
  - hourly_pay
defaults: {}
primary_key:
  columns: [id]
unique: []
foreign_keys:
  - name: sessions_worker_fk
    columns: [worker_id]
    references:
      table: workers
      columns: [id]
    on_delete: restrict
    on_update: cascade
    relationship: worker
constraints:
  - name: end_after_start
    expression: end_time IS NULL OR end_time >= start_time
  - name: pay_nonnegative
    expression: hourly_pay >= 0
indexes:
  - name: sessions_worker_id_idx
    columns: [worker_id]
    unique: false
  - name: sessions_open_idx
    columns: [worker_id]
    where: end_time IS NULL
    unique: false
computed_fields:
  duration:
    type: interval
    expression: end_time - start_time
    stored: false
comments:
  table: Work sessions for workers.
  columns:
    end_time: Null means the session is still open.
  foreign_keys:
    sessions_worker_fk: Each session belongs to one worker.
  constraints:
    end_after_start: End time must not be before start time.
  indexes:
    sessions_worker_id_idx: Supports joins from sessions to workers.

--- table:sessions:data
id,worker_id,start_time,end_time,hourly_pay,metadata
s_001,w_001,2026-01-01T09:00:00Z,2026-01-01T17:00:00Z,25.00,"{""source"":""manual""}"
s_002,w_001,2026-01-02T09:00:00Z,,25.00,"{""source"":""timer""}"

--- table:tags:schema
name: tags
columns:
  label: text

--- table:tags:data
label
remote
manual

--- row_index:workers:id                                                        
strategy                                                                                                   sorted_binary
w_001                                                                                                                  1                                      46
w_002                                                                                                                  2                                      50

--- row_index:sessions:id                                                       
strategy                                                                                                   sorted_binary
s_001                                                                                                                  1                                      86
s_002                                                                                                                  2                                      65

--- section_index                                                               
csdb                                                                                                                 320
table:workers:schema                                                                                                 900
table:workers:data                                                                                                   120
table:sessions:schema                                                                                               1400
table:sessions:data                                                                                                  220
table:tags:schema                                                                                                     70
table:tags:data                                                                                                       20
row_index:workers:id                                                                                                 512
row_index:sessions:id                                                                                                512
footer                                                                                                               991

--- footer                                                                      
section_index_count                                                                                                   10