diff --git a/docs/api-reference/rest/openapi.yml b/docs/api-reference/rest/openapi.yml
index d2a49e0..944ad72 100644
--- a/docs/api-reference/rest/openapi.yml
+++ b/docs/api-reference/rest/openapi.yml
@@ -1026,6 +1026,10 @@ paths:
       description: |
         Insert new records into table `id`.
 
+        For tables that have been declared but not yet created on storage
+        (is_only_declared=true), this operation will create the table with
+        the provided data.
+
         REST NAMESPACE ONLY
         REST namespace uses Arrow IPC stream as the request body.
         It passes in the `InsertIntoTableRequest` information in the following way:
@@ -1122,6 +1126,10 @@ paths:
         based on a matching column and inserts new rows that don't match.
         It returns the number of rows inserted and updated.
 
+        For tables that have been declared but not yet created on storage
+        (is_only_declared=true), this operation will create the table with
+        the provided data (since there are no existing rows to merge with).
+
         REST NAMESPACE ONLY
         REST namespace uses Arrow IPC stream as the request body.
         It passes in the `MergeInsertIntoTableRequest` information in the following way:
@@ -2393,6 +2401,13 @@ components:
           $ref: "#/components/schemas/PageToken"
         limit:
           $ref: "#/components/schemas/PageLimit"
+        include_declared:
+          type: boolean
+          description: |
+            When true, includes tables that have been declared in the namespace
+            but not yet created on storage, in addition to tables that have
+            been created. When false or not set, only tables with storage
+            components are returned.
 
     ListTablesResponse:
       type: object
@@ -2529,6 +2544,15 @@ components:
             When true, the caller should use namespace table version operations
             (CreateTableVersion, BatchCreateTableVersions, DescribeTableVersion, ListTableVersions, BatchDeleteTableVersions)
             to manage table versions instead of relying on Lance's native version management.
+        is_only_declared:
+          type: boolean
+          description: |
+            When true, indicates that the table has been declared in the namespace
+            but not yet created on storage. This means the table exists in the
+            namespace but has no data files on the underlying storage.
+            Operations like describe_table with load_detailed_metadata=true may fail
+            for such tables. When false or not set, the table has storage components
+            (data and metadata files).
 
     TableBasicStats:
       type: object
diff --git a/lance-namespace b/lance-namespace
index 98a0541..8382878 160000
--- a/lance-namespace
+++ b/lance-namespace
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 98a0541adf460b8f327356ac5000c7f53b843450
+Subproject commit 8382878589c3b224fc20079e9c67564f757b4127