Embedded SQL provides the ability to mark delete, insert, select, and update statements with the keyword repeated. Through a protocol hidden by the embedded preprocessor and implemented by the embedded runtime system, these queries are optimized in the server for repeated execution. The queries are shared among all clients running a given application.

OpenAPI also lets you use repeat queries, though not with the ease provided by embedded SQL. For an OpenAPI application to use repeat queries, it must adhere to the same protocol implemented in the embedded runtime system. This protocol is explained in the following paragraphs.