Methods and apparatus for optimizing an abstract query are disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention allow an abstract database to optimize an abstract query composed from a set of logical fields. Each logical field includes a field name and an access method used to map the logical field to an underlying physical representation of the data. After a user composes an abstract query and submits it for execution, a runtime component and optimization component may be configured to resolve the abstract query to a physical query of the underlying physical data source using an access method associated with each logical field. In addition, as the runtime component builds a query consistent with the schema of the underlying database, an optimizing component may modify the query using any suitable optimization techniques. Different optimization techniques include optimizations based on logical field metadata, optimizations based on the underlying physical data repositories referenced by an access method and optimizations based on the relationships between logical fields or underlying data structures.