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Description

The DESCRIBE statement is used to display the attributes of an existing model.

The available options to describe a model depend on the underlying engine.

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Syntax

Here is how to retrieve general information on the model:

DESCRIBE model_name;

Or:

DESCRIBE MODEL model_name;

This command is similar to the below command:

SELECT *
FROM models
WHERE name = 'model_name';

One difference between these two commands is that DESCRIBE outputs an additional column that stores all available options to describe a model, depending on the underlying engine.

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Examples

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Lightwood Models

MindsDB uses the Lightwood engine by default. Let’s see how to describe such models.

DESCRIBE [MODEL] home_rentals_model;

On execution we get:

+--------------------------------------+--------------------+-----------+---------+--------+---------+----------+----------+--------------+---------------+-----------------+--------+--------------------------------------+----------------------------+--------+
| tables                               | NAME               | ENGINE    | PROJECT | ACTIVE | VERSION | STATUS   | ACCURACY | PREDICT      | UPDATE_STATUS | MINDSDB_VERSION | ERROR  | SELECT_DATA_QUERY                    | TRAINING_OPTIONS           | TAG    |
+--------------------------------------+--------------------+-----------+---------+--------+---------+----------+----------+--------------+---------------+-----------------+--------+--------------------------------------+----------------------------+--------+
| ["info","features","model","jsonai"] | home_rentals_model | lightwood | mindsdb | true   | 1       | complete | 0.999    | rental_price | up_to_date    | 23.4.4.0        | [NULL] | SELECT * FROM demo_data.home_rentals | {'target': 'rental_price'} | [NULL] |
+--------------------------------------+--------------------+-----------+---------+--------+---------+----------+----------+--------------+---------------+-----------------+--------+--------------------------------------+----------------------------+--------+

The tables output column lists all available options to describe a model.

DESCRIBE [MODEL] home_rentals_model.info;

The above command returns the following output columns:

NameDescription
accuraciesIt lists the accuracy function used to evaluate the model and the achieved score.
column_importancesIt lists all feature-type columns and assigns importance values.
outputsThe target column.
inputsAll the feature columns.

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NLP Models

MindsDB offers NLP models that utilize either Hugging Face or OpenAI engines. Let’s see how to describe such models.

DESCRIBE [MODEL] sentiment_classifier;

On execution we get:

+---------------------+----------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+----------+-----------+---------------+-----------------+--------+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| tables              | NAME                 | ENGINE | PROJECT | ACTIVE | VERSION | STATUS   | ACCURACY | PREDICT   | UPDATE_STATUS | MINDSDB_VERSION | ERROR  | SELECT_DATA_QUERY | TRAINING_OPTIONS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | TAG    |
+---------------------+----------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+----------+-----------+---------------+-----------------+--------+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| ["args","metadata"] | sentiment_classifier | openai | mindsdb | true   | 1       | complete | [NULL]   | sentiment | up_to_date    | 23.1.3.2        | [NULL] | [NULL]            | {'target': 'sentiment', 'using': {'prompt_template': 'describe the sentiment of the reviews\n                     strictly as "positive", "neutral", or "negative".\n                     "I love the product":positive\n                     "It is a scam":negative\n                     "{{review}}.":'}} | [NULL] |
+---------------------+----------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+----------+-----------+---------------+-----------------+--------+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+

The tables output column lists all available options to describe a model.

DESCRIBE [MODEL] sentiment_classifier.args;

The above command returns the following output columns:

NameDescription
keyIt stores parameters, such as prompt_template and target.
valueIt stores parameter values.

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Nixtla Models

MindsDB integrates Nixtla engines, such as StatsForecast, NeuralForecast, and HierarchicalForecast. Let’s see how to describe models based on Nixtla engines.

DESCRIBE [MODEL] quarterly_expenditure_forecaster;

On execution we get:

+-----------------------------+----------------------------------+---------------+---------+--------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+---------------+-----------------+--------+---------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| tables                      | NAME                             | ENGINE        | PROJECT | ACTIVE | VERSION | STATUS   | ACCURACY | PREDICT     | UPDATE_STATUS | MINDSDB_VERSION | ERROR  | SELECT_DATA_QUERY                     | TRAINING_OPTIONS                                                                                                                                    | TAG    |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------+---------------+---------+--------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+---------------+-----------------+--------+---------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| ["info","features","model"] | quarterly_expenditure_forecaster | statsforecast | mindsdb | true   | 1       | complete | [NULL]   | expenditure | up_to_date    | 23.4.4.0        | [NULL] | SELECT * FROM historical_expenditures | {'target': 'expenditure', 'using': {}, 'timeseries_settings': {'is_timeseries': True, 'order_by': 'month', 'horizon': 3, 'group_by': ['category']}} | [NULL] |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------+---------------+---------+--------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+---------------+-----------------+--------+---------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+

The tables output column lists all available options to describe a model.

DESCRIBE [MODEL] quarterly_expenditure_forecaster.info;

The above command returns the following output columns:

NameDescription
accuraciesIt lists the chosen model name and its accuracy score.
outputsThe target column.
inputsAll the feature columns.

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Other Models

Models that utlize LangChain or are brought to MindsDB via MLflow can be described as follows:

DESCRIBE [MODEL] other_model;

The above command returs ["info"] in its first output column.

DESCRIBE [MODEL] other_model.info;

The above command lists basic model information.

If you need more information on how to DESCRIBE [MODEL] or understand the results, feel free to ask us on the community Slack workspace.

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