---
title: "Guides"
slug: "dev-database-guides"
updated: 2026-11-05T22:16:11Z
published: 2026-11-05T22:16:11Z
canonical: "docs.vastdata.com/dev-database-guides"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vastdata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Guides

Step-by-step instructions for the work you'll do most. If you're loading data for the first time, start with Ingest, then Querying; read Data modeling before you create a table you'll keep, and the other guides for file formats, updates, transactions and tuning.

- **[Data modeling](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-data-modeling)**: Choose sorted, partitioned or vector-indexed layouts, projections and row IDs from your queries, since most of these choices can't be undone.
- **[Ingest](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-ingest)**: Insert Arrow data with the Python SDK, size batches, import Parquet files on the cluster, load partitioned tables, or use Trino.
- **[Load JSON, CSV and Parquet files](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-load-files)**: Load newline-delimited JSON, CSV and Parquet files with PyArrow, fix the types it guesses wrong, and stream large files in batches.
- **[Load scientific array data (NetCDF and GRIB2)](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-load-scientific-data)**: Turn NetCDF and GRIB2 arrays into table rows with xarray, load step by step or in parallel, and query a region.
- **[Querying](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-querying)**: Make the cluster do the filtering: choose columns, write predicates that push down, limit rows, tune QueryConfig and read splits in parallel.
- **[Updates and deletes](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-updates-and-deletes)**: Update and delete rows by row ID with the Python SDK, on sorted, partitioned and user-defined row ID tables, and delete partitions.
- **[Transactions in practice](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-transactions-in-practice)**: Commit and roll back in Python SDK code, recognise conflict errors, know what the SDK retries, and retry a whole transaction yourself.
- **[Optimize queries](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-optimize-queries)**: A checklist for cheaper queries: table structure, filters that push down, fewer columns, splits and endpoints, top-N and vector search.
- **[Indexing and data skipping](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-indexing-and-data-skipping)**: With no B-tree indexes, see how min/max statistics, sorting, partition pruning, projections and the vector index skip data, and what each costs.
- **[Projections](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-projections)**: What a semi-sorted projection is, when a second sort order helps filters on other columns, and how to create and check one.
- **[Profile a query](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-profile-a-query)**: Use the Query Engine, Trino, the SDK and Spark to see whether filters pushed down, what came back and where time went.
- **[Event sourcing and CQRS](/develop/docs/dev-database-guides-event-sourcing-and-cqrs)**: Build an append-only event table and a current-state table with the Python SDK, using idempotent writes, a watermark and rebuild by replay.