---
title: "Advanced Feature Quick Reference - HeliosDB Nano"
---

# Advanced Feature Quick Reference - HeliosDB Nano

This quick reference covers the HeliosDB Nano features commonly used for branching, point-in-time reads, materialized views, compression, and vector search.

## Branching

```sql
CREATE DATABASE BRANCH dev FROM main AS OF NOW;
CREATE DATABASE BRANCH qa FROM main AS OF TIMESTAMP '2025-11-28 09:00:00';

SELECT * FROM pg_database_branches();

MERGE DATABASE BRANCH dev INTO main;
DROP DATABASE BRANCH IF EXISTS qa;
```

## Time-Travel Queries

```sql
SELECT * FROM orders AS OF NOW;
SELECT * FROM orders AS OF TIMESTAMP '2025-11-28 09:00:00';
SELECT * FROM orders AS OF TRANSACTION 42;
SELECT * FROM orders AS OF SCN 1000;
```

## Materialized Views

```sql
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW sales_by_region AS
SELECT region, SUM(amount) AS total
FROM sales
GROUP BY region;

REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW sales_by_region;
REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW CONCURRENTLY sales_by_region;

SELECT * FROM pg_mv_staleness();
```

## Vector Search And Product Quantization

```sql
CREATE TABLE embeddings (
  id INT PRIMARY KEY,
  body TEXT,
  embedding VECTOR(384)
);

CREATE INDEX idx_embeddings
ON embeddings(embedding)
USING hnsw;

SELECT * FROM pg_vector_index_stats();
```

## Compression

```sql
CREATE TABLE events (
  id INT,
  category TEXT,
  payload TEXT
);
```

Compression can be configured through storage settings and per-column storage modes where supported by the selected deployment profile.

## Validation

```bash
cd HeliosDB-Nano
cargo test branch_sql_integration_tests
cargo test materialized_view_tests
cargo test time_travel_system_views_tests
```

## See Also

- [Branches, Time-Travel, and Advanced Features Tutorial](https://www.heliosdb.com/docs/nano/guides/branching_time_travel_tutorial/)
- [SQL Features](https://www.heliosdb.com/docs/nano/features/sql_features/)
- [System Catalog](https://www.heliosdb.com/docs/nano/system_catalog/)