#2020th of 28 in Backends, databases and hosting
pixeltable
Python multimodal database with computed columns and HTTP routes in one file
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- Stars
- 1.6k
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Last commit
- Oct 2026
- Last release
- Oct 2026
- Language
- Python
Missed the latest GitHub check; these facts may be older.
Overview
Pixeltable stores images, video, audio and documents in tables, and treats transforms and indexes as declared columns that run on insert. Table models and FastAPI-style insert, update and compute routes are defined in one Python file and applied with the `pxt` CLI. It runs locally or on Pixeltable Cloud, which is in limited beta.
Who it is for: Python developers building multimodal AI backends, often with coding agents
Strengths
- Tables, computed columns, indexes and HTTP routes declared in one Python file
- Routes can be mounted on an existing FastAPI app via include_router
- Native Image, Video, Audio and Document column types
- Ships an agent skill, developer MCP server and Cursor/Claude/ChatGPT plugins
Weaknesses
- Pixeltable Cloud is limited beta and requires emailing for access
- Uses its own TableModel schema; existing schemas must be rewritten
- README gives no RAM, GPU or storage requirements
- Schema and service updates are separate CLI steps
What it needs
- Needs Python, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (starter chat /ask route only)
- Models: Anthropic (starter kit)
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