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Dataset views

A view is a dataset whose rows come from a SQL query over another dataset. It has no copy of its own: the query runs each time someone reads the view, so it is always as current as the dataset underneath it. Use a view when someone should see part of a dataset and not the rest. The common case is a page. Anyone who can open a page can query every dataset the page is bound to, all columns and all rows, not only what the page displays. For a public page that means anyone with the link. Bind the page to a view instead, and visitors can read only what the view selects. For example, a public dashboard that shows how many leads each landing-page variant brought in needs a count per variant. It does not need each lead’s email address. A view of the leads dataset gives it exactly that:
Inside a view’s query, data is the dataset the view reads. When someone reads the view, data is the view’s own output, so a query against the view can only reach the columns the view selects.

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What a view guarantees

  • Readers need access to the view, not to the source. A teammate, a shared thread or a page can be given the view while the source stays private.
  • The source’s filters still apply. Rows hidden by the source dataset’s filters, such as test submissions, never appear in a view of it, and a reader of the view cannot switch them off.
  • A view lasts only as long as its creator’s access. If the person who created the view can no longer see the source dataset, the view stops returning rows and says why.
  • A view is read-only. Write to its source dataset instead. A view has no refreshes, no revisions and no schema of its own to edit: its columns come from its query.
Views can read file datasets: uploads, lead and form capture, and tables Erdo writes. They cannot read another view, or a dataset synced from a connected app. The source needs at least one row before you create a view of it, because the view’s columns come from running its query. A view stays with its source. You can’t delete a dataset while views read it (Erdo names them), and you can’t move a view, or a dataset that views read, to another organization. Delete the views first, or recreate them in the other organization. You can add filters to a view like any other dataset. They apply to the view’s output.

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Creating a view

In chat, ask Erdo to make a view, for example “make a view of our leads with just the count per variant, for the public dashboard”. Erdo creates it and uses it in place of the leads dataset when it builds the page.
Over MCP, call erdo_create_dataset with a view object holding source_dataset and sql. You need view access to the source dataset to create a view of it. Read a view the way you read any dataset: erdo datasets query, erdo_query_data, or POST /v1/datasets/:slug/query.
Views are being rolled out gradually. If creating one says views are not enabled for your account, contact Erdo support.