---
title: "entity_table.json"
slug: "entity-table-json"
updated: 2022-07-27T15:21:53Z
published: 2022-07-27T15:21:53Z
canonical: "code.tag.bio/entity-table-json"
---

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

# entity_table.json

The *entity_table* attribute in the **config** file uses a distinct form of a **table** object. Its primary objective is to define and load unique **entities** into the Data Product from a delimited file or database table. As a secondary function, it will also be implicitly included with the *other_tables* for loading of data via **parsers**.

## Attribute - unique_keys

```
{
  "table_alias": "eeee",
  "table": "../somewhere-outside-the-project-repo/eeee.csv",
  
  // Unique keys define distinct entities
  //
  "unique_keys": [ 
    "kkkk", // A column representing a unique entity ID in the source table
    ... // If multiple unique_keys are specified, they will be combined
  ]
}
```

## Attribute - foreign_keys

```
{
  "table_alias": "eeee",
  "table": "../somewhere-outside-the-project-repo/eeee.csv",
  "unique_keys": [ 
    "kkkk"
  ],
  
  // Foreign keys define how other table objects can map data to entities
  // Unique keys are implicitly included as foreign keys
  //
  "foreign_keys": [ 
    "ffff", // A column representing a unique entity ID in the source table
    ... // Multiple foreign keys are possible
  ]
}
```

## Attribute - entities

```
{
  "table_alias": "eeee",
  "table": "../somewhere-outside-the-project-repo/eeee.csv",
  "unique_keys": [ 
    "kkkk"
  ],
  "foreign_keys": [ 
    "ffff"
  ],
  
  // The Data Product will only load this many entities, max
  //
  "entities": ####
}
```

## Attribute - dupes

```
{
  "table_alias": "eeee",
  "table": "../somewhere-outside-the-project-repo/eeee.csv",
  "unique_keys": [ 
    "kkkk"
  ],
  "foreign_keys": [ 
    "ffff"
  ],
  
  // If "dupes" is set to "die", the system will crash and report
  // if it sees a row with a duplicate copy of unique_keys
  //
  "dupes": "die"
}
```