Mapping SQLite Result Columns Back to Their Source table.column
Original: Mapping SQLite result columns back to their source `table.column`
Simon Willison uses Claude Code to find three ways to map SQLite query result columns back to their originating table and column.
Simon Willison explored how to programmatically map SQLite query result columns back to their source table and column names — a capability that would let Datasette enrich query results with contextual metadata. He tasked Claude Code (Opus 4.8) with finding solutions, which surfaced three approaches: using the apsw library, calling SQLite's sqlite3_column_table_name() C function via Python ctypes, and parsing EXPLAIN bytecode output. The research is published as a GitHub README and covers the tradeoffs of each technique.
Simon Willison published a research exploration investigating how to map columns in SQLite query results back to their originating table.column pairs. The motivation comes from Datasette, his open-source data exploration tool: if arbitrary SQL queries could carry provenance metadata about which table and column each result field came from, Datasette could surface richer contextual information in its UI — for example, linking result cells to their schema definitions or applying column-specific rendering rules.
Free shows the 3-line summary; Pro unlocks the full deep summary (~300 words) so you never have to click through.
See Pro plans →Want the original English / full article?
Read on Simon Willison's Weblog →Summaries are AI-generated; the original article is authoritative.