Describe a Vector Table

Use the describe vector table operation to retrieve detailed configuration and metadata for a vector table.

The operation returns comprehensive information about the specified table, including its schema, index configuration, embedding settings, row count, and creation time stamp.

A table name is required as input. An error is raised if the provided table does not exist.

See the following for an example of using describe_vector_table to request table information:

from oracle_vecdb import OracleVecDB, Configuration

client = OracleVecDB(Configuration(
    rest_url="https://<host>/ords/<schema>/_/db-api/stable/vecdb/",
    access_token="<bearer-token>", # or username="<user>", password="<pass>"
))

details = client.describe_vector_table(name="product_vectors")
print(details.to_dict())

A JSON response containing table configuration is returned, including the following information:

Table name and description
Vector type and dimensions
Index parameters and status
Embedding model configuration (if applicable)
Row count and storage statistics
Annotations and metadata

Example response:

{
    "table_name": "DEMO_PRODUCTS",
    "owner": "VECTOR3",
    "status": "Empty",
    "vector_type": "dense",
    "vector_table_type": "BYOV",
    "index_params": {
        "vector_index_params": {
            "auto_index": true,
            "organization": "PARTITIONS",
            "advanced_params": {
                "partitions": 10
            }
        },
        "parallel_creation": 4
    },
    "annotations": {
        "metric": "cosine",
        "dimension": "5"
    },
    "embed_params": null,
    "created": "2026-03-12T11:21:30Z",
    "description": "Demo table for SDK examples"
}

For more information about the describe_vector_table operation, see Python API Reference.

See the following for an example of using GET /vecdb/vector-tables/{vector_table_name} to request table information:

curl -X GET \
  "https://<host>:<port>/ords/<schema>/_/db-api/stable/vecdb/vector-tables/product_vectors" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  # Choose ONE authentication method:

  # Option 1: Basic authentication
  -u "<user>:<password>"

  # Option 2: OAuth Bearer token
  # -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>"

Responses:

Example 200 response:

{
  "table_name": "PRODUCT_VECTORS",
  "comment": "Product catalog embeddings",
  "table_params": {
    "auto_generate_id": false
  },
  "annotations": {
    "domain": "retail"
  },
  "vector_type": "dense",
  "vector_table_type": "BYOV",
  "embed_params": null,
  "index_params": {
    "vector_index_params": {
      "auto_index": true,
      "organization": "PARTITIONS",
      "distance_metric": "COSINE"
    },
    "metadata_index_params": {
      "auto_index": true
    },
    "parallel_creation": 1
  },
  "owner": "APPUSER",
  "indexes": [],
  "status": "Empty",
  "stats": {
    "total_vectors": 0
  },
  "created": "2026-05-01T10:00:00.000000+00:00",
  "updated": "2026-05-01T10:00:00.000000+00:00"
}

404 - not found or precondition failed.

For more information about GET /vecdb/vector-tables/{vector_table_name}, see REST API Reference.

See how DBMS_VECTOR_DATABASE.DESCRIBE_VECTOR_TABLE can be used in the following example:

dbms_vector_database.describe_vector_table('product_vectors');

Example response:

{
  "table_name": "PRODUCT_VECTORS",
  "comment": "Product catalog embeddings",
  "table_params": {
    "auto_generate_id": false
  },
  "annotations": {
    "domain": "retail"
  },
  "vector_type": "dense",
  "vector_table_type": "BYOV",
  "embed_params": null,
  "index_params": {
    "vector_index_params": {
      "auto_index": true,
      "organization": "PARTITIONS",
      "distance_metric": "COSINE"
    },
    "metadata_index_params": {
      "auto_index": true
    },
    "parallel_creation": 1
  },
  "owner": "APPUSER",
  "indexes": [],
  "status": "Empty",
  "stats": {
    "total_vectors": 0
  },
  "created": "2026-05-01T10:00:00.000000+00:00",
  "updated": "2026-05-01T10:00:00.000000+00:00"
}

For more information about the PL/SQL implementation, including parameters, see DESCRIBE_VECTOR_TABLE.