Core concepts

Learn Core Concepts of how ClickHouse works

In this section of the documentation, you will learn some of the core concepts of how ClickHouse works.

Page	Description
Table parts	Learn what table parts are in ClickHouse.
Table partitions	Learn what table partitions are and what they’re used for.
Table part merges	Learn what table part merges are and what they’re used for.
Table shards and replicas	Learn what table shards and replicas are and what they’re used for.
Primary indexes	Introduces ClickHouse’s sparse primary index and how it helps efficiently skip unnecessary data during query execution. Explains how the index is built and used, with examples and tools for observing its effect. Links to a deep dive for advanced use cases and best practices.
Architectural Overview	A concise academic overview of all components of the ClickHouse architecture, based on our VLDB 2024 scientific paper.