The : Prefix

All OmniQL queries start with a colon (:).

:GET User WHERE id = 1

Why the Prefix?

OmniQL and native SQL share many keywords (CREATE, UPDATE, SELECT). The prefix acts as a switch, telling the system exactly how to handle the string.

Query	Behavior
`:GET User...`	✅ Parsed and translated to target DB
`SELECT * ...`	❌ Error - missing `:` prefix

All queries must use OmniQL syntax. For native database commands, use your database driver directly.

Parser Behavior

The oql.Parse() function uses this prefix to determine if it should engage the compiler.

import "github.com/omniql-engine/omniql"

// 1. OmniQL Query (Starts with :)
query, isOQL, err := oql.Parse(":GET User WHERE id = 1")
// isOQL = true
// query = *models.Query (AST)

// 2. Query without prefix = Error
query, isOQL, err := oql.Parse("SELECT * FROM users")
// isOQL = false
// client.Query() will return error: "OmniQL syntax required"

Syntax Pattern

An OmniQL command follows this structure:

:OPERATION Entity [clauses]

Part	Description	Example
`:`	Required Prefix	`:`
`OPERATION`	Action to perform	`GET`, `CREATE`, `UPDATE`, `DELETE`
`Entity`	Target Table/Collection	`User`, `Product`, `Order`
`[clauses]`	Optional modifiers	`WHERE`, `ORDER BY`, `LIMIT`

Entity Naming

OmniQL uses PascalCase entity names. The translator automatically lowercases and pluralizes them:

You Write	Output
`User`	`users`
`Product`	`products`
`OrderItem`	`orderitems`

Note: The engine lowercases then pluralizes. It does not add underscores (snake_case).

Examples

-- Queries
:GET User WHERE age > 21
:GET id, name, price FROM Product WHERE active = true

-- Mutations
:CREATE User WITH name:"John", age:30
:UPDATE User SET verified:true WHERE id = 1
:DELETE User WHERE status = "inactive"

-- Schema DDL
:CREATE TABLE User WITH id:AUTO, name:STRING, email:STRING
:CREATE INDEX idx_email ON User (email)

Getting Started

Queries

Mutations

Schema

Control

Reference

Databases

Integration

Syntax Basics

The : Prefix

Why the Prefix?

Parser Behavior

Syntax Pattern

Entity Naming

Examples

Next Steps

Quickstart

Filtering

​The : Prefix

​Why the Prefix?

​Parser Behavior

​Syntax Pattern

​Entity Naming

​Examples

​Next Steps

Quickstart

Filtering

The : Prefix

Why the Prefix?

Parser Behavior

Syntax Pattern

Entity Naming

Examples

Next Steps