CQLAI Commands Reference

CQLAI supports all standard CQL commands plus additional meta-commands and AI features for enhanced functionality.

CQL Commands

Execute any valid CQL statement supported by your Cassandra cluster:

Data Definition (DDL)

-- Keyspaces
CREATE KEYSPACE my_keyspace WITH replication = {
    'class': 'NetworkTopologyStrategy', 'dc1': 3
};
ALTER KEYSPACE my_keyspace WITH replication = {
    'class': 'NetworkTopologyStrategy', 'dc1': 3, 'dc2': 3
};
DROP KEYSPACE my_keyspace;

-- Tables
CREATE TABLE users (
    user_id UUID PRIMARY KEY,
    username TEXT,
    email TEXT
);
ALTER TABLE users ADD phone TEXT;
DROP TABLE users;
TRUNCATE users;

-- Indexes
CREATE INDEX ON users (email);
CREATE INDEX users_email_idx ON users (email) USING 'sai';
DROP INDEX users_email_idx;

-- User-Defined Types
CREATE TYPE address (
    street TEXT,
    city TEXT,
    zip TEXT
);
ALTER TYPE address ADD country TEXT;
DROP TYPE address;

-- Functions and Aggregates
CREATE FUNCTION my_func(input TEXT)
    CALLED ON NULL INPUT
    RETURNS TEXT
    LANGUAGE java
    AS 'return input.toUpperCase();';
DROP FUNCTION my_func;

Data Manipulation (DML)

-- Insert
INSERT INTO users (user_id, username, email)
VALUES (uuid(), 'john_doe', 'john@example.com');

INSERT INTO users (user_id, username, email)
VALUES (uuid(), 'temp_user', 'temp@example.com')
USING TTL 86400;

-- Select
SELECT * FROM users;
SELECT username, email FROM users WHERE user_id = ?;
SELECT JSON * FROM users;  -- Returns proper JSON

-- Update
UPDATE users SET email = 'new@example.com'
WHERE user_id = 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000;

UPDATE users USING TTL 3600
SET temp_field = 'value'
WHERE user_id = ?;

-- Delete
DELETE FROM users WHERE user_id = ?;
DELETE email FROM users WHERE user_id = ?;

-- Batch
BEGIN BATCH
    INSERT INTO users (user_id, username) VALUES (uuid(), 'user1');
    INSERT INTO users (user_id, username) VALUES (uuid(), 'user2');
APPLY BATCH;

Data Control (DCL)

-- Roles
CREATE ROLE admin WITH PASSWORD = 'pass' AND SUPERUSER = true AND LOGIN = true;
ALTER ROLE admin WITH PASSWORD = 'newpass';
DROP ROLE admin;

-- Permissions
GRANT ALL PERMISSIONS ON KEYSPACE my_app TO admin;
GRANT SELECT ON TABLE users TO readonly_role;
REVOKE DELETE ON TABLE users FROM app_role;
LIST ALL PERMISSIONS OF admin;

---

Meta-Commands

Session Management

USE

Switch to a keyspace:

USE my_keyspace;

CONSISTENCY

Set or show consistency level:

-- Show current level
CONSISTENCY;

-- Set level
CONSISTENCY QUORUM;
CONSISTENCY LOCAL_QUORUM;
CONSISTENCY ONE;

Available levels:

• ANY - Write to any node (including hints)
• ONE - One replica
• TWO - Two replicas
• THREE - Three replicas
• QUORUM - Majority of replicas
• ALL - All replicas
• LOCAL_QUORUM - Majority in local DC
• EACH_QUORUM - Quorum in each DC
• LOCAL_ONE - One replica in local DC
• SERIAL - For lightweight transactions
• LOCAL_SERIAL - Local serial

PAGING

Control result pagination:

-- Show current page size
PAGING;

-- Set page size
PAGING 100;
PAGING 1000;

-- Disable paging
PAGING OFF;

TRACING

Enable query tracing:

-- Enable tracing
TRACING ON;

-- Run query (trace shown in F4 view)
SELECT * FROM users WHERE user_id = ?;

-- Disable tracing
TRACING OFF;

EXPAND

Toggle vertical output mode:

-- Enable expanded output
EXPAND ON;

-- Query shows one field per line
SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 1;

-- Disable expanded output
EXPAND OFF;

OUTPUT

Set output format:

-- Show current format
OUTPUT;

-- Set format
OUTPUT TABLE;    -- Default table format
OUTPUT JSON;     -- JSON format
OUTPUT ASCII;    -- ASCII table
OUTPUT EXPAND;   -- Expanded vertical format

---

Schema Description

DESCRIBE / DESC

View schema information:

-- List all keyspaces
DESCRIBE KEYSPACES;

-- Show keyspace definition
DESCRIBE KEYSPACE my_keyspace;

-- List tables in current keyspace
DESCRIBE TABLES;

-- Show table structure
DESCRIBE TABLE users;
DESC users;  -- Short form

-- Show table in specific keyspace
DESC my_keyspace.users;

-- User-Defined Types
DESCRIBE TYPES;
DESCRIBE TYPE address;

-- Functions
DESCRIBE FUNCTIONS;
DESCRIBE FUNCTION my_func;

-- Aggregates
DESCRIBE AGGREGATES;
DESCRIBE AGGREGATE my_agg;

-- Materialized Views
DESCRIBE MATERIALIZED VIEWS;
DESCRIBE MATERIALIZED VIEW user_by_email;

-- Indexes
DESCRIBE INDEX users_email_idx;

-- Cluster information
DESCRIBE CLUSTER;

SHOW

Display session information:

-- Show Cassandra version
SHOW VERSION;

-- Show current connection
SHOW HOST;

-- Show all session settings
SHOW SESSION;

---

Data Import/Export

COPY TO

Export table data to file:

-- Export to CSV
COPY users TO 'users.csv';

-- Export to Parquet (auto-detected by extension)
COPY users TO 'users.parquet';

-- Export specific columns
COPY users (id, name, email) TO 'users_partial.csv';

-- Export with options
COPY users TO 'users.csv' WITH HEADER=TRUE AND DELIMITER='|';

-- Export to stdout
COPY users TO STDOUT WITH HEADER=TRUE;

-- Parquet with compression
COPY users TO 'users.parquet' WITH FORMAT='PARQUET' AND COMPRESSION='SNAPPY';

COPY TO Options:

Option	Default	Description
FORMAT	CSV	Output format: CSV or PARQUET
HEADER	TRUE	Include column headers (CSV)
DELIMITER	,	Field separator (CSV)
NULLVAL	(empty)	String for NULL values
PAGESIZE	1000	Rows per page for large exports
COMPRESSION	SNAPPY	For Parquet: SNAPPY, GZIP, ZSTD, LZ4, NONE
CHUNKSIZE	10000	Rows per chunk (Parquet)

COPY FROM

Import data from file:

-- Import from CSV
COPY users FROM 'users.csv';

-- Import from Parquet
COPY users FROM 'users.parquet';

-- Import with header row
COPY users FROM 'users.csv' WITH HEADER=TRUE;

-- Import specific columns
COPY users (id, name, email) FROM 'users_partial.csv';

-- Import from stdin
COPY users FROM STDIN;

-- Import with options
COPY users FROM 'data.csv' WITH HEADER=TRUE AND DELIMITER='|' AND NULLVAL='N/A';

COPY FROM Options:

Option	Default	Description
FORMAT	CSV	Input format: CSV or PARQUET
HEADER	FALSE	First row contains headers
DELIMITER	,	Field separator
NULLVAL	(empty)	String representing NULL
MAXROWS	-1	Max rows to import (-1=unlimited)
SKIPROWS	0	Rows to skip at start
MAXPARSEERRORS	-1	Max parse errors allowed
MAXINSERTERRORS	1000	Max insert errors allowed
MAXBATCHSIZE	20	Max rows per batch
MINBATCHSIZE	2	Min rows per batch
CHUNKSIZE	5000	Progress update interval
ENCODING	UTF8	File encoding
QUOTE	"	Quote character

CAPTURE

Capture query output continuously:

-- Start capturing to text file
CAPTURE 'output.txt';

-- Capture as JSON
CAPTURE JSON 'output.json';

-- Capture as CSV
CAPTURE CSV 'output.csv';

-- Run queries (output captured)
SELECT * FROM users;
SELECT * FROM orders;

-- Stop capturing
CAPTURE OFF;

SAVE

Save displayed results to file:

-- Run a query first
SELECT * FROM users WHERE status = 'active';

-- Save displayed results
SAVE;                      -- Interactive dialog
SAVE 'users.csv';         -- Auto-detect format
SAVE 'users.json';        -- JSON format
SAVE 'data.txt' ASCII;    -- ASCII table

Difference from CAPTURE: SAVE exports currently displayed results without re-executing the query. CAPTURE records all subsequent query results.

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Script Execution

SOURCE

Execute CQL script from file:

-- Execute script
SOURCE 'schema.cql';

-- Absolute path
SOURCE '/path/to/script.cql';

---

Help

HELP

Display command help:

-- Show all commands
HELP;

-- Help for specific command
HELP DESCRIBE;
HELP CONSISTENCY;
HELP COPY;

---

AI Commands

.ai

Generate CQL from natural language:

-- Simple queries
.ai show all users
.ai find products with price less than 100
.ai count orders from last month

-- Complex operations
.ai create a table for storing customer feedback with id, customer_id, rating, and comment
.ai update user status to inactive where last_login is older than 90 days
.ai delete all expired sessions

-- Schema exploration
.ai what tables are in this keyspace
.ai describe the structure of the users table
.ai show me the primary key of the orders table

How it works:

1. Type .ai followed by your request
2. CQLAI extracts your current schema for context
3. AI generates a CQL query
4. Preview the query before execution
5. Execute, edit, or cancel

Safety features:

• Read-only preference (prefers SELECT unless asked otherwise)
• Warnings for destructive operations (DROP, DELETE, TRUNCATE)
• Confirmation required for dangerous queries
• Schema validation

See AI Features Guide for configuration and advanced usage.

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Keyboard Shortcuts Reference

Navigation & Control

Shortcut	Action
↑ / ↓	Navigate command history
Tab	Auto-complete
Ctrl+C	Clear input / Cancel / Exit (twice)
Ctrl+D	Exit application
Ctrl+R	Search command history
Esc	Toggle navigation mode
Enter	Execute / Load next page

Text Editing

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+A	Jump to beginning of line
Ctrl+E	Jump to end of line
Ctrl+K	Cut to end of line
Ctrl+U	Cut to beginning of line
Ctrl+W	Cut word backward
Ctrl+Y	Paste cut text

View Switching

Shortcut	Action
F2	Query/history view
F3	Table view
F4	Trace view
F5	AI conversation view
F6	Toggle column types

Navigation Mode (Tables)

Shortcut	Action
j / k	Scroll line down/up
d / u	Scroll half page
g / G	Jump to top/bottom
< / >	Scroll left/right (10 cols)
0 / $	First/last column

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Next Steps

• AI Features - Configure AI providers
• Parquet Support - Work with Parquet files
• Configuration - Full configuration reference