diff --git a/server/src/engine/ql/schema.rs b/server/src/engine/ql/schema.rs
index ae46de13..7104b925 100644
--- a/server/src/engine/ql/schema.rs
+++ b/server/src/engine/ql/schema.rs
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@
 use {
     super::{
         ast::{Compiler, Statement},
-        lexer::{DdlMiscKeyword, Keyword, Lit, Symbol, Token, Type},
+        lexer::{DdlKeyword, DdlMiscKeyword, Keyword, Lit, MiscKeyword, Symbol, Token, Type},
         LangResult, RawSlice,
     },
     std::{
-        collections::HashMap,
+        collections::{HashMap, HashSet},
         mem::{transmute, MaybeUninit},
     },
 };
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ macro_rules! states {
     }
 }
 
+type StaticStr = &'static str;
+
 const HIBIT: u64 = 1 << 63;
 const TRAIL_COMMA: bool = true;
 
@@ -111,6 +113,21 @@ impl Layer {
     }
 }
 
+#[derive(Debug, Default, PartialEq, Eq)]
+pub struct FieldProperties {
+    pub(super) propeties: HashSet<StaticStr>,
+}
+
+impl FieldProperties {
+    const NULL: StaticStr = "null";
+    const PRIMARY: StaticStr = "primary";
+    pub fn new() -> Self {
+        Self {
+            propeties: HashSet::new(),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /*
     Context-free dict
 */
@@ -457,6 +474,31 @@ pub(super) fn fold_layers(tok: &[Token]) -> (Vec<Layer>, usize, bool) {
     (l, (r & !HIBIT) as _, r & HIBIT == HIBIT)
 }
 
+pub(super) fn collect_field_properties(tok: &[Token]) -> (FieldProperties, usize, bool) {
+    let mut props = FieldProperties::default();
+    let mut i = 0;
+    let mut okay = true;
+    while i < tok.len() {
+        match &tok[i] {
+            Token::Keyword(Keyword::Ddl(DdlKeyword::Primary)) => {
+                okay &= props.propeties.insert(FieldProperties::PRIMARY)
+            }
+            Token::Keyword(Keyword::Misc(MiscKeyword::Null)) => {
+                okay &= props.propeties.insert(FieldProperties::NULL)
+            }
+            Token::Ident(_) => break,
+            _ => {
+                // we could pass this over to the caller, but it's better if we do it since we're doing
+                // a linear scan anyways
+                okay = false;
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        i += 1;
+    }
+    (props, i, okay)
+}
+
 pub(crate) fn parse_schema(_c: &mut Compiler, _m: RawSlice) -> LangResult<Statement> {
     todo!()
 }
diff --git a/server/src/engine/ql/tests.rs b/server/src/engine/ql/tests.rs
index 53ea4eb7..adbac2ef 100644
--- a/server/src/engine/ql/tests.rs
+++ b/server/src/engine/ql/tests.rs
@@ -678,4 +678,30 @@ mod schema_tests {
             });
         }
     }
+    mod field_properties {
+        use {super::*, crate::engine::ql::schema::FieldProperties};
+
+        #[test]
+        fn field_properties_empty() {
+            let tok = lex(b"myfield:").unwrap();
+            let (props, c, okay) = schema::collect_field_properties(&tok);
+            assert!(okay);
+            assert_eq!(c, 0);
+            assert_eq!(props, FieldProperties::default());
+        }
+        #[test]
+        fn field_properties_full() {
+            let tok = lex(b"primary null myfield:").unwrap();
+            let (props, c, okay) = schema::collect_field_properties(&tok);
+            assert_eq!(c, 2);
+            assert_eq!(tok[c], Token::Ident("myfield".into()));
+            assert!(okay);
+            assert_eq!(
+                props,
+                FieldProperties {
+                    propeties: ["primary", "null"].into_iter().collect()
+                }
+            )
+        }
+    }
 }