diff --git a/src/vnode/common/inc/schema.h b/src/vnode/common/inc/schema.h
index c8ac6e7f6740043b31c44907e98665894a315c34..869c069295cacc59fc5a5cffee8b393268f0b7e8 100644
--- a/src/vnode/common/inc/schema.h
+++ b/src/vnode/common/inc/schema.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #define _TD_SCHEMA_H_
 
 #include <stdint.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 #include "type.h"
 
@@ -30,27 +31,41 @@ typedef struct {
  * |   len   | SSchema | SColumn | ... | SColumn | col1_name | ... | colN_name |
  * +---------+---------+---------+-----+---------+-----------+-----+-----------+
  */
-typedef char *SISchema
-
-// ---- operation on SColumn
-#define TD_COLUMN_TYPE(pCol) ((pCol)->type)
-#define TD_COLUMN_ID(pCol) ((pCol)->colId)
-#define TD_COLUMN_BYTES(pCol) ((pCol)->bytes)
-#define TD_COLUMN_NAME(pCol) ((pCol)->colName)
-
-// ---- operation on SSchema
-#define TD_SCHEMA_VERSION(pSchema) ((pSchema)->version)
-#define TD_SCHEMA_NCOLS(pSchema) ((pSchema)->numOfCols)
-#define TD_SCHEMA_NTAGS(pSchema) ((pSchema)->numOfTags)
-#define TD_SCHEMA_TOTAL_COLS(pSchema) (TD_SCHEMA_NCOLS(pSchema) + TD_SCHEMA_NTAGS(pSchema))
+typedef char *SISchema;
+
+// TODO: decide if the space is allowed
+#define TD_ISCHEMA_HEADER_SIZE sizeof(int32_t) + sizeof(SSchema)
+
+// ---- operations on SColumn
+#define TD_COLUMN_TYPE(pCol) ((pCol)->type)     // column type
+#define TD_COLUMN_ID(pCol) ((pCol)->colId)      // column ID
+#define TD_COLUMN_BYTES(pCol) ((pCol)->bytes)   // column bytes
+#define TD_COLUMN_NAME(pCol) ((pCol)->colName)  // column name
+#define TD_COLUMN_INLINE_SIZE(pCol) (sizeof(SColumn) + TD_COLUMN_NAME(pCol) + 1)
+
+// ---- operations on SSchema
+#define TD_SCHEMA_VERSION(pSchema) ((pSchema)->version)      // schema version
+#define TD_SCHEMA_NCOLS(pSchema) ((pSchema)->numOfCols)      // schema number of columns
+#define TD_SCHEMA_NTAGS(pSchema) ((pSchema)->numOfTags)      // schema number of tags
+#define TD_SCHEMA_TOTAL_COLS(pSchema) (TD_SCHEMA_NCOLS(pSchema) + TD_SCHEMA_NTAGS(pSchema)) // schema total number of SColumns (#columns + #tags)
 #define TD_SCHEMA_NEXT_COLID(pSchema) ((pSchema)->colIdCounter++)
 #define TD_SCHEMA_COLS(pSchema) ((pSchema)->columns)
 #define TD_SCHEMA_TAGS(pSchema) (TD_SCHEMA_COLS(pSchema) + TD_SCHEMA_NCOLS(pSchema))
-#define TD_SCHEMA_COLUMN_AT(pSchema, idx) TD_SCHEMA_COLS(pSchema)[idx]
-#define TD_SCHEMA_TAG_AT(pSchema, idx) TD_SCHEMA_TAGS(pSchema)[idx]
+#define TD_SCHEMA_COLUMN_AT(pSchema, idx) (TD_SCHEMA_COLS(pSchema) + idx)
+#define TD_SCHEMA_TAG_AT(pSchema, idx) (TD_SCHEMA_TAGS(pSchema) + idx)
 
-// ---- operation on SISchema
+// ---- operations on SISchema
 #define TD_ISCHEMA_LEN(pISchema) *((int32_t *)(pISchema))
 #define TD_ISCHEMA_SCHEMA(pISchema) ((SSchema *)((pISchema) + sizeof(int32_t)))
+#define TD_ISCHEMA_COL_NAMES(pISchema) ((pISchema) + TD_ISCHEMA_HEADER_SIZE + sizeof(SColumn) * TD_SCHEMA_TOTAL_COLS(TD_ISCHEMA_SCHEMA(pISchema)))
+
+// ----
+/* Convert a schema structure to an inline schema structure
+ */
+SISchema tdConvertSchemaToInline(SSchema *pSchema);
+int32_t tdGetColumnIdxByName(SSchema *pSchema, char *colName);
+int32_t tdGetColumnIdxById(SSchema *pSchema, int32_t colId);
+
+// ---- TODO: operations to change schema
 
 #endif  // _TD_SCHEMA_H_
diff --git a/src/vnode/common/inc/type.h b/src/vnode/common/inc/type.h
index c7cf10c52c3456b44696341a09222eda27a61d5e..f44bc982c111c4cad0fc90e6e32ce98808687dee 100644
--- a/src/vnode/common/inc/type.h
+++ b/src/vnode/common/inc/type.h
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 #include <stdint.h>
 
-typedef enum : uint8_t {
+typedef enum {
     TD_DATATYPE_INVLD = 0, // invalid data type
     TD_DATATYPE_BOOL,
     TD_DATATYPE_TINYINT,
diff --git a/src/vnode/common/src/schema.c b/src/vnode/common/src/schema.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..35374a431172ec2842c92d8a502bcba7cca62504
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/vnode/common/src/schema.c
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+#include "schema.h"
+
+static size_t tdGetEstimatedISchemaLen(SSchema *pSchema) {
+  size_t colNameLen = 0;
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < TD_SCHEMA_NCOLS(pSchema); i++) {
+    colNameLen += (strlen(TD_COLUMN_NAME(TD_SCHEMA_COLUMN_AT(pSchema, i))) + 1);
+  }
+
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < TD_SCHEMA_NCOLS(pSchema); i++) {
+    colNameLen += (strlen(TD_COLUMN_NAME(TD_SCHEMA_COLUMN_AT(pSchema, i))) + 1);
+  }
+
+  return TD_ISCHEMA_HEADER_SIZE + (size_t)TD_SCHEMA_TOTAL_COLS(pSchema) + colNameLen;
+}
+
+SISchema tdConvertSchemaToInline(SSchema *pSchema) {
+  size_t  len = tdGetEstimatedISchemaLen(pSchema);
+  int32_t totalCols = TD_SCHEMA_TOTAL_COLS(pSchema);
+  // TODO: if use pISchema is reasonable?
+  SISchema pISchema = malloc(len);
+  if (pSchema == NULL) {
+    // TODO: add error handling
+    return NULL;
+  }
+
+  TD_ISCHEMA_LEN(pISchema) = (int32_t)len;
+  memcpy((void *)TD_ISCHEMA_SCHEMA(pISchema), (void *)pSchema, sizeof(SSchema));
+  TD_SCHEMA_COLS(TD_ISCHEMA_SCHEMA(pISchema)) = (SColumn *)(pISchema + TD_ISCHEMA_HEADER_SIZE);
+  memcpy((void *)TD_SCHEMA_COLS(TD_ISCHEMA_SCHEMA(pISchema)), (void *)TD_SCHEMA_COLS(pSchema),
+         sizeof(SColumn) * totalCols);
+
+  char *pName = TD_ISCHEMA_COL_NAMES(pISchema);
+  for (int32_t i = 0; i < totalCols; i++) {
+    SColumn *pCol = TD_SCHEMA_COLUMN_AT(TD_ISCHEMA_SCHEMA(pISchema), i);
+    char *   colName = TD_COLUMN_NAME(TD_SCHEMA_COLUMN_AT(pSchema, i), i);
+
+    TD_COLUMN_NAME(pCol) = pName;
+
+    size_t tlen = strlen(colName) + 1;
+    memcpy((void *)pName, (void *)colName, tlen);
+    pName += tlen;
+  }
+
+  return pISchema;
+}
+
+int32_t tdGetColumnIdxByName(SSchema *pSchema, char *colName) {
+  for (int32_t i = 0; i < TD_SCHEMA_TOTAL_COLS(pSchema); i++) {
+    SColumn *pCol = TD_SCHEMA_COLUMN_AT(pSchema, i);
+    if (strcmp(colName, TD_COLUMN_NAME(pCol)) == 0) {
+      return i;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return -1;
+}
+
+int32_t tdGetColumnIdxById(SSchema *pSchema, int32_t colId) {
+  for (int32_t i = 0; i < TD_SCHEMA_TOTAL_COLS(pSchema); i++) {
+    SColumn *pCol = TD_SCHEMA_COLUMN_AT(pSchema, i);
+    if (TD_COLUMN_ID(pCol) == colId) {
+        return i;
+    }
+  }
+  return -1;
+}
\ No newline at end of file