Iceberg Tables

Iceberg Tables expose existing Apache Iceberg datasets from a connected bucket. Use them when another system already owns the Iceberg table metadata and data files, and Altertable should query those tables without copying them.

Each mapping gives Altertable a logical table name and the Iceberg table path in the bucket. Altertable reads the Iceberg metadata to resolve snapshots, manifests, and data files.

When to use Iceberg Tables

Use Iceberg Tables when:

• The dataset is already stored as Apache Iceberg in object storage.
• You know the bucket and path for each table you want to expose.
• Another engine or pipeline remains responsible for writing the Iceberg tables.

Use Bucket Tables for plain Parquet, CSV, or JSON files that are not managed by Iceberg metadata.

Connect Iceberg Tables

1. Open Catalogs in the Altertable app.
2. Click New catalog.
3. Select Iceberg Tables.
4. Choose the connected bucket that stores the Iceberg datasets.
5. Add one or more table mappings with a table name and Iceberg table path.
6. Save the catalog, then query the mapped tables with SQL.

Table mappings

After the catalog is connected, query tables with fully qualified names such as iceberg_external.main.orders.