---
title: "Check if a table exists"
method: POST
path: "/v1/table/{id}/exists"
tags: ["Table", "Metadata"]
---

# Check if a table exists

`POST /v1/table/{id}/exists`

Check if table `id` exists.

This operation should behave exactly like DescribeTable,
except it does not contain a response body.

REST NAMESPACE ONLY
REST namespace conveys the result through the HTTP status code with no response body.
The REST response maps to the `TableExistsResponse` model as follows:
- a `200` response means the table exists; a `404` response means it does not
- response headers map to `context` via the `header.` prefix (see the `Context` schema)

For DirectoryNamespace implementation, a table exists if either:
- The table has Lance data versions (regular table created with CreateTable)
- A `.lance-reserved` file exists in the table directory (declared table created with DeclareTable)

## Path parameters

- `id` string, required

## Query parameters

- `delimiter` string

## Request body

- TableExistsRequest
  - `identity` Identity — Identity information of a request.
    - `api_key` string — API key for authentication. REST NAMESPACE ONLY This is passed via the `x-api-key` header.
    - `auth_token` string — Bearer token for authentication. REST NAMESPACE ONLY This is passed via the `Authorization` header with the Bearer scheme (e.g., `Bearer <token>`).
  - `context` unknown
  - `id` string[]
  - `version` integer — Version of the table to check existence. If not specified, server should resolve it to the latest version.

## Response `200`

Success, no content

## Other responses

- `400` — Indicates a bad request error. It could be caused by an unexpected request body format or other forms of request validation failure, such as invalid json. Usually serves application/json content, although in some cases simple text/plain content might be returned by the server's middleware.
- `401` — Unauthorized. The request lacks valid authentication credentials for the operation.
- `403` — Forbidden. Authenticated user does not have the necessary permissions.
- `404` — A server-side problem that means can not find the specified resource.
- `503` — The service is not ready to handle the request. The client should wait and retry. The service may additionally send a Retry-After header to indicate when to retry.
- `5XX` — A server-side problem that might not be addressable from the client side. Used for server 5xx errors without more specific documentation in individual routes.

---

[API](https://skmtc.net/lance-format/apis/lance-namespace-specification.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.net/lance-format/apis/lance-namespace-specification/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-staging.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/lance-format/lance-namespace-specification/versions/f09656f7f568/schema)