Use SQL views as input tables

Shape your source data into a single, analysis-ready entity table (often via a SQL view) before configuring Syntho.

Use a SQL view when you need to reshape data before Syntho reads it.

This is most common for:

• AI synthesize workflows that work best on a single entity table.
• Data sharing where recipients prefer one clean table.
• Analytics sandboxes where BI dashboards query a flattened model.

Why this matters

A well-designed input table makes configuration simpler and safer:

• Fewer joins means fewer linkage points.
• You can enforce “one row = one entity” rules.
• You can precompute derived fields once, then keep Syntho configs minimal.

Practical pattern: create a single entity view

1. Pick the entity you care about (customer, patient, account).
2. Join only what you need for the use case.
3. Ensure every row has a stable, unique key.

Syntho can read from a table or view in the source. See Table view.

Example (PostgreSQL): flatten customers + last order

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW syntho_customer_entity_v AS
SELECT
  c.customer_id,
  c.country_code,
  c.segment,
  c.signup_date,
  o.order_date  AS last_order_date,
  o.order_total AS last_order_total
FROM customers c
LEFT JOIN LATERAL (
  SELECT order_date, order_total
  FROM orders o
  WHERE o.customer_id = c.customer_id
  ORDER BY order_date DESC
  LIMIT 1
) o ON true;

Destination considerations

Syntho writes to the destination. The destination object must usually be a table.

If your source is a view:

• Create a destination table with the same columns.
• Or write to a filesystem destination (e.g., Parquet), if that fits your workflow.

Edge cases and gotchas

• Missing primary keys: add a stable surrogate key in the view, or model a different entity.
• Exploding joins (1-to-many): aggregate first (e.g., counts, sums, “last event”), then join.
• Materialized views: use them when the view becomes slow to query during training.
• Security: grant read-only access to the view, not the full underlying schema.

Where to use this in Syntho

• Use the view as the source table when configuring AI synthesize.
• Keep the generator config small. Prefer calculated columns for only the rules you must enforce.