Append-only tables

A payment ledger, a consent record or an evidence log loses its value the moment someone can quietly edit a row. Application code that promises not to update rows is not the same as a table that refuses to. Append-only tables make immutability a property of the data, not a convention.

What you get

• ›Inserts and reads work as normal; every update and delete is refused.
• ›The append-only flag is a one-way latch: you can turn it on later, but never off.
• ›Removing a column is refused, because it would destroy history.
• ›Computed columns are not allowed on an append-only table.
• ›Every returned schema carries an appendOnly flag, so apps and agents can tell before they try to write.
• ›Row security, masking and the access log still apply, so immutable does not mean public.

-- example

{
  "tableName": "payment_ledger",
  "schema": {
    "appendOnly": true,
    "columnDefinitions": [
      { "columnName": "amount_cents", "columnType": "INTEGER", "required": true },
      { "columnName": "reason", "columnType": "SHORT_TEXT" }
    ]
  }
}

Full reference in the AutessaDB CLI docs and the API reference.