lance-format / lance-format/lance

§5.3 Row ID sequences spill to data files as a hidden column

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@BubbleCal is already working on this.

Since Sep 15, 2026.

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Description

See: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x6Xon1XNZ5XaXHekk5kU0Ujg0A9FCOSLAP1Ry9XTMx8/edit?tab=t.0

Row IDs, created-at, and last-updated-at cannot always live in the manifest. Inlining is a good optimization while they are a few bytes; past that they need to be in separate files. Rather than a new file type, store them as special columns in the data files, reusing existing encoding and file-location infrastructure, at fixed field IDs:

  • _rowid -> -3
  • _row_created_at_version -> -4
  • _row_last_updated_at_version -> -5

Field ID is an i32; non-negative values are user fields, negatives are system fields (-1 and -2 are already in use). This likely requires a spec change to reserve all negative IDs for system use, though it is consistent with how the libraries already behave.

Placement depends on the rebase behavior needed. On a commit conflict we must (a) re-mint new row IDs, (b) re-mint _row_created_at_version, (c) recompute _row_last_updated_at_version — the first two only when the write adds rows. Rewriting inline metadata is fastest (in-memory); a dedicated data file is next (minimal write amplification); rewriting a main data file is expensive and should be avoided.

Operation Placement
Append all three trivially inline
Update (RewriteRows) _rowid, _row_created_at_version inline or in the main data file; _row_last_updated_at_version trivially inline
Mixed updates + appends all three in a dedicated data file
Compaction all retry-stable, so directly in a data file

T


This replaces the unused RowIdMeta::External stub. A new feature flag gates spilled row IDs.

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