Relations & Rollups
As your Closot workspace grows, you'll start to notice that your databases don't live in isolation — they're connected. The same person appears in your team directory and in your sprint board. The same client shows up in your deal pipeline and your invoice tracker. Relations and rollups are the tools that let you wire these connections together, so your data works as a unified system rather than a collection of separate lists.
What Is a Database Relation?
A relation property creates a formal link between items in two different databases (or between items within the same database). Once a relation exists, you can attach specific records from one database to records in another.
Practical examples:
- A Research Papers database relates to an Authors database — each paper shows which authors contributed, and each author's page shows their full publication list
- An Orders database relates to a Products database — each order shows which products were included, and each product shows all the orders it's ever appeared in
- A Bug Reports database relates to a Releases database — each bug is linked to the release where it was fixed, and each release shows all the bugs it resolved
Relations don't just store a reference — they make your data navigable. Click a relation cell and the linked pages open instantly.
Creating a Relation
- Open your database and click Add property (or
+next to the last column in list view) - Select Relation as the property type
- In the panel that appears, search for and select the database you want to connect to
- Review the preview showing how the relation will appear
- Click Add relation to finalize
Once created, clicking any relation cell opens a search panel where you can find and select items from the related database to link.
Two-Way Relations
By default, relations are one-directional — you see the link from Database A to Database B, but Database B doesn't show a reciprocal column pointing back.
Enabling two-way sync creates a matching relation property on the other database automatically. Any connection you make in either database is instantly mirrored in the other.
To enable: When creating the relation, toggle on Show on [related database name]. You can also enable this after the fact by editing the relation property settings.
Example: You have a Clients database and an Invoices database. With a two-way relation, each client's page automatically lists all invoices sent to them, and each invoice page shows the client it belongs to — without you having to manually update both sides.
If you duplicate a database that has two-way relations, the duplicated database's connections convert to one-way. You can manually re-enable two-way sync in the duplicated database's relation settings.
Self-Relations
A database can relate to itself. This is useful for hierarchical or peer-to-peer connections within a single collection of items.
Example: A Knowledge Base Articles database where each article can list related articles — so readers can discover connected topics without leaving the database.
When creating a self-relation, it's generally advisable to turn off two-way sync to avoid duplicate relation fields appearing in the same database.
Display Options for Relations
When a relation property exists in your database, you can customize how it presents information:
- Visibility — set the property to "Always show", "Hide when empty", or "Always hide" depending on how prominent you want it
- Limit — restrict the relation to a single linked page, or allow unlimited connections
- Show properties — display specific properties of the linked items directly inside the relation field, so you can see relevant metadata without opening the linked page
What Are Rollups?
A rollup is a read-only calculated property that pulls and aggregates data from a related database. While a relation shows which items are linked, a rollup answers questions like how many, what's the total, or what's the earliest date.
Rollups require an existing relation property on the same database to function — they can't exist without one.
Example: A Projects database has a relation to a Tasks database. A rollup could calculate:
- The count of all linked tasks (how many tasks does this project have?)
- The percent complete based on task status checkboxes (what percentage of tasks are done?)
- The latest due date across all linked tasks (when is the last deadline for this project?)
Setting Up a Rollup
- Add a new property to your database and select Rollup as the type
- Under Relation, choose the relation property that connects to your source database
- Under Property, choose which property from the related database to aggregate
- Under Calculate, choose the aggregation method
Available Rollup Calculations
General (all property types)
| Calculation | What It Returns |
|---|---|
| Show original | Displays the raw values from all linked items |
| Show unique values | Displays only distinct values, deduplicating repeats |
| Count all | Total number of linked items |
| Count values | Number of items that have a value in the selected property |
| Count unique values | Number of distinct values in the selected property |
| Count empty | Number of linked items with no value |
| Count not empty | Number of linked items with a value |
| Percent empty | Percentage of linked items with no value |
| Percent not empty | Percentage of linked items with a value |
Number Properties
| Calculation | What It Returns |
|---|---|
| Sum | Total of all values |
| Average | Mean of all values |
| Median | Middle value |
| Min | Smallest value |
| Max | Largest value |
| Range | Difference between max and min |
Date Properties
| Calculation | What It Returns |
|---|---|
| Earliest date | The oldest date across all linked items |
| Latest date | The most recent date across all linked items |
| Date range | The span between earliest and latest date |
Aggregate Rollup Columns
You can also run calculations across an entire rollup column — not just row by row. To do this, click the rollup column header in list view, hover over Calculate, and select from the available More options to see totals, ranges, and averages across your full dataset.