---
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.

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 (empty table created with CreateEmptyTable)

## Path parameters

- `id` string, required

## Query parameters

- `delimiter` string

## Request body

- TableExistsRequest
  - `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.

## Changes

- **2025-07-29** `40a3bc489d46` — 6 breaking, 12 warning, 12 info
  - the response property `type` became optional for the status `400`
  - the response property `type` became optional for the status `401`
  - the response property `type` became optional for the status `403`
  - the response property `type` became optional for the status `404`
  - …26 more
- **2025-07-25** `8769f8e36bc4` — 2 warning, 2 info
  - removed the request property `name`
  - removed the request property `namespace`
  - added the new optional request property `id`
  - added the new optional request property `version`
- **2025-07-21** `db7569410aa4` — 1 breaking, 1 info
  - removed the media type `application/json` for the response with the status `200`
  - api tag `Metadata` added
- **2025-07-21** `6790486d1fac` — 8 breaking, 16 warning, 20 info
  - added the new required request property `name`
  - added the new required request property `namespace`
  - removed the required property `code` from the response with the `400` status
  - removed the required property `code` from the response with the `401` status
  - …40 more

[Change history](https://skmtc.dev/lance-format/apis/lance-namespace-specification/changes/v1/table/:id/exists/post.md)

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/lance-format/apis/lance-namespace-specification.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/lance-format/apis/lance-namespace-specification/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-production.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/lance-format/lance-namespace-specification/revisions/6ad4337e3849/schema)