Add string support to min/max operators #1120

KyleAMathews · 2026-01-12T20:55:21Z

Summary

Extends min() and max() aggregate functions to support string fields, using lexicographic comparison. This matches standard SQL behavior where MIN/MAX on text columns return alphabetically first/last values.

Approach

Added string to the set of comparable types at three layers:

Type definitions (db-ivm/groupBy.ts): Extended CanMinMax type union
Type inference (db/builder/functions.ts): Extended AggregateReturnType helper
Runtime evaluation (db/compiler/group-by.ts): Updated the value extractor to preserve strings for comparison instead of coercing to numbers

The value extractor was renamed from valueExtractorWithDate to valueExtractorForMinMax to reflect its broader purpose.

Key Invariants

Strings compare lexicographically (e.g., "apple" < "banana")
Null/undefined values are handled consistently with existing behavior
Type safety is preserved—TypeScript knows min(stringField) returns a string

Non-goals

Locale-aware collation (uses JavaScript's default string comparison)
Case-insensitive comparison

Verification

pnpm test packages/db/tests/query/group-by.test.ts

The new test covers min/max on status and product_category string fields across multiple customers, verifying alphabetical ordering.

Files Changed

File	Change
`packages/db-ivm/src/operators/groupBy.ts`	Add `string` to `CanMinMax` type
`packages/db/src/query/builder/functions.ts`	Add `string` to `AggregateReturnType`
`packages/db/src/query/compiler/group-by.ts`	Preserve strings in min/max value extractor
`packages/db/tests/query/group-by.test.ts`	Add test for string min/max

Add support for string values in min() and max() aggregate functions, using lexicographic comparison (same as SQL behavior). Changes: - Add `string` to CanMinMax type in db-ivm/groupBy.ts - Update AggregateReturnType to include string in db/builder/functions.ts - Update valueExtractor in group-by.ts compiler to preserve strings - Add test case for min/max on string fields

changeset-bot · 2026-01-12T20:55:25Z

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: 51782b6

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 13 packages

Name	Type
@tanstack/db	Patch
@tanstack/db-ivm	Patch
@tanstack/angular-db	Patch
@tanstack/electric-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/offline-transactions	Patch
@tanstack/powersync-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/query-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/react-db	Patch
@tanstack/rxdb-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/solid-db	Patch
@tanstack/svelte-db	Patch
@tanstack/trailbase-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/vue-db	Patch

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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

pkg-pr-new · 2026-01-12T20:57:00Z

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commit: 51782b6

github-actions · 2026-01-12T20:59:35Z

Size Change: -57 B (-0.06%)

Total Size: 90.5 kB

Filename	Size	Change
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/group-by.js`	1.81 kB	-57 B (-3.04%)

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/change-events.js`	1.39 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/changes.js`	1.19 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/events.js`	388 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/index.js`	3.32 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/indexes.js`	1.1 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/lifecycle.js`	1.67 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/mutations.js`	2.34 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/state.js`	3.46 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/subscription.js`	3.62 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/sync.js`	2.38 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/deferred.js`	207 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/errors.js`	4.49 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/event-emitter.js`	748 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/index.js`	2.69 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/auto-index.js`	742 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/base-index.js`	766 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/btree-index.js`	1.93 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/lazy-index.js`	1.1 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/reverse-index.js`	513 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/local-only.js`	837 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/local-storage.js`	2.1 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/optimistic-action.js`	359 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/paced-mutations.js`	496 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/proxy.js`	3.75 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/builder/functions.js`	733 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/builder/index.js`	4.08 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/builder/ref-proxy.js`	1.05 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/evaluators.js`	1.42 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/expressions.js`	430 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/index.js`	1.96 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/joins.js`	2 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/order-by.js`	1.45 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/select.js`	1.06 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/expression-helpers.js`	1.43 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/ir.js`	673 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live-query-collection.js`	360 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live/collection-config-builder.js`	5.4 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live/collection-registry.js`	264 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live/collection-subscriber.js`	1.93 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live/internal.js`	145 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/optimizer.js`	2.56 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/predicate-utils.js`	2.97 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/subset-dedupe.js`	921 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/scheduler.js`	1.3 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/SortedMap.js`	1.3 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/strategies/debounceStrategy.js`	247 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/strategies/queueStrategy.js`	428 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/strategies/throttleStrategy.js`	246 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/transactions.js`	2.9 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils.js`	924 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/browser-polyfills.js`	304 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/btree.js`	5.61 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/comparison.js`	852 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/cursor.js`	457 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/index-optimization.js`	1.51 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/type-guards.js`	157 B

_{compressed-size-action::db-package-size}

github-actions · 2026-01-12T21:00:13Z

Size Change: 0 B

Total Size: 3.47 kB

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/index.js`	225 B
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/useLiveInfiniteQuery.js`	1.17 kB
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/useLiveQuery.js`	1.12 kB
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/useLiveSuspenseQuery.js`	559 B
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/usePacedMutations.js`	401 B

_{compressed-size-action::react-db-package-size}

- Flatten nested ternary in valueExtractor for readability - Remove dead validation code in replaceAggregatesByRefs ref case - Condense docstring to reflect actual behavior Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

chore: change string min/max changeset to patch

d7ca9ee

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

refactor(db): simplify group-by compiler code

51782b6

- Flatten nested ternary in valueExtractor for readability - Remove dead validation code in replaceAggregatesByRefs ref case - Condense docstring to reflect actual behavior Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

kevin-dp approved these changes Jan 13, 2026

View reviewed changes

KyleAMathews added this to TanStack DB 1.0.0 release Jan 13, 2026

KyleAMathews moved this to Ready for review in TanStack DB 1.0.0 release Jan 13, 2026

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