> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.infino.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Open format (no lock-in)

> Infino stores your data as standard Apache Parquet, so you can read tables directly from DuckDB, pandas, or pyarrow with no export step and no Infino runtime.

Infino stores your data as **spec-compliant Apache Parquet**. Each table persists as one
or more superfiles (`*.sf.parquet`); the embedded BM25 and vector index regions sit ahead
of a standard Parquet footer and are referenced by `inf.*` file-metadata keys that a
conformant Parquet reader simply ignores. So **anything that reads Parquet can read your
data**: no export step, no Infino in the read path, no lock-in.

A single table can shard into several superfiles, so read them as a **set** (glob the
`*.sf.parquet` files under the table's directory).

## DuckDB

```sql theme={null}
SELECT source, COUNT(*) AS n
FROM read_parquet('./data/**/*.sf.parquet')
GROUP BY source
ORDER BY source;
```

## pandas / pyarrow

```python theme={null}
import glob
import pyarrow.parquet as pq

files = glob.glob("./data/**/*.sf.parquet", recursive=True)
table = pq.read_table(files[0])          # or pa.concat_tables([...]) across all files
df = table.to_pandas()
```

## What a Parquet reader sees

A standard reader gets the **`_id` column and your scalar / text columns**, and ignores
the index regions. One thing to know: the **vector column is consumed into the embedded
index, not stored as a Parquet column**, so it won't appear in the read-back (you'll see
`_id`, `source`, `body`, but not `embedding`).

<Note>
  A raw Parquet read returns the rows as written to the superfiles. For Infino's **live
  view** (ranked search, and tables with `update` / `delete` applied), query through
  Infino (`query_sql` and the search API). Use direct Parquet reads for analytics,
  ETL/export, and interop with the wider data ecosystem.
</Note>

## Limitations

* **Tombstones aren't applied.** A raw Parquet read returns rows as written; `update`/`delete` effects show only through Infino.
* **The vector column isn't a Parquet column.** It's consumed into the embedded index, so a standard reader won't see it.
* **Rewriting drops the indexes.** Reading a superfile and rewriting it through a generic Parquet writer keeps the columns but loses searchability until re-indexed.

## See also

* [Connect & storage](/guides/storage)
* [SQL Reference](/sql-reference)
* [Tradeoffs](/tradeoffs)