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The database is relational, with a spreadsheet-friendly field model: tables of records, where each field has a type (text, number, select, date, linked record, formula, and more).

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Tables, fields, and records

  • Tables hold records of one kind (Customers, Tickets, Invoices).
  • Fields are the typed columns on a table. The first field is the table’s primary field.
  • Records are the rows.
  • Views are saved filters, sorts, and field arrangements over a table.
Zite supports rich field types: text, number, currency, percent, rating, duration, single/multiple select, date, datetime, checkbox, attachments, email, url, phone, linked records (relationships between tables), lookups and rollups (values pulled or aggregated across a relationship), and formulas (computed values). See the full Field types reference.
Some field types are computed or system-managed: formula, rollup, created_at, updated_at, updated_by, and user. They’re maintained by the platform, so they’re read-only from your code and can’t be set directly.

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SDK names

In your apps, tables and fields are addressed by SDK names, not their display labels. A table’s SDK name appears in two spellings, and which one you use depends on the surface: Fields are camelCase everywhere. The generated .zite/db.ts shows both table spellings on one line: tickets: createTableClient<TicketsRecordType>('Tickets'). The accessor is on the left, and the PascalCase name SQL and permissions use is on the right. SDK names are stable (renaming a table or field in the UI does not change its SDK name), so your code keeps working. You’ll see them in the generated .zite/db.ts for each workspace. See the database client.

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How apps use the database

The frontend never talks to the database directly. Reads and writes run inside backend workflows, which use a typed client generated from the schema:
The React frontend reaches this data by calling that workflow through a generated, typed caller. It never queries the database itself. For counts, joins, and aggregates, workflows use read-only SQL with human-readable names via zite.sql(). Both the client and zite.sql() are covered in the database client reference.

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Editing the schema

You can change the schema from the database UI in the dashboard, or ask an agent to do it through the Zite MCP (create_table, create_field, and friends). You can also manage tables, fields, and records programmatically with the Database API.