Insights · 5 min read

Column reorder in the grid vs. stable schemas for APIs and warehouses

Reordering columns helps humans; APIs and COPY commands care about names or positions, know which contract you are under.

Published March 21, 2025 · Table

In our viewer, column reorder is a presentation concern: downloads follow the visible order. Warehouse loaders that map by position break when order changes; loaders that map by header name are safer for exploratory reshuffles.

Team norm

Publish a canonical column list for production feeds; use free reorder only in draft review.
After reordering for analysis, reset or document before export if position-sensitive.