Migrating to TanStack Table V9 (Lit)

What's New in TanStack Table V9#

TanStack Table V9 delivers major performance improvements, hundreds of bug fixes, new and refreshed features, and optional helpers for composing and managing tables. Despite the scale of the release, the headless model, core table logic, column definitions, and rendering patterns remain familiar. Here are the key changes:

1. Better Performance#

• Lower memory usage: The core architecture now shares more behavior across table objects, with some large-table scenarios seeing up to 90% memory savings.
• Faster client-side row models: Sorting, filtering, and aggregation paths have improved algorithms and memoization, with many scenarios seeing up to 40-70% speed improvements.
• Better column resizing performance: Column resizing also gets significant performance improvements from the same architectural and memoization work.

2. State Management Overhaul#

• TanStack Store foundation: State is backed by TanStack Store atoms.
• Lit controller integration: TableController wires table store changes to Lit host updates.
• Fine-grained subscriptions: tableController.table(options) exposes the full registered state by default; pass a selector only when you want to narrow it.

3. Type-Safety Improvements#

• New and revamped type helpers: New type helpers help define columns, custom filters, sorts, aggregations, column and table meta, shared table options and components, and more.
• Per-table meta types: tableMeta, columnMeta, and filterMeta slots let you type meta for a specific table instead of globally augmenting shared interfaces. No more global declaration merging required!
• Feature-gated APIs: APIs only exist when their feature is registered, and tableFeatures() validates feature prerequisites at the type level.

4. Tree Shaking and Extensibility#

• Import only the features you use: Tables that only need sorting do not ship filtering, pagination, or other unused feature code.
• Tree-shakeable row models and functions: Row model factories and filterFns / sortFns / aggregationFns now live on tableFeatures(), so unused processing code can be dropped.
• Custom features use the same system: Your own feature plugins can register state, options, and APIs alongside the built-in features. See the Custom Features Guide.

5. Composability#

• tableOptions(): Compose reusable table configuration, including features, row models, and default options.
• createTableHook(): Define shared Lit table factories with pre-bound features, row models, defaults, and render helpers.

6. New and Refreshed Features#

• New Features
  • Cell Selection: cellSelectionFeature adds spreadsheet-style rectangular cell range selection, with drag, Shift-extend, and multiple disjoint ranges. See the Cell Selection Guide.
  • Cell Spanning: cellSpanningFeature merges body cells across rows and columns (spanRows / spanColumns, with span-aware cell selection), and header groups now compute header.rowSpan so shallow columns can span header rows. See the Cell Spanning Guide.
• Refreshed Features
  • More capable features: Aggregation, Row Selection, Column Pinning, and Column Resizing have all been made more feature rich (multiple aggregation definitions per column, Shift range selection, logical start/end pinning, and more).
  • New core APIs: New table and row APIs (like table.getMaxSubRowDepth(), row.getDisplayIndex()) round out the core feature set.

The Good News: Most Table Logic Is Still Familiar#

• Column definitions keep the same basic accessorKey, accessorFn, header, cell, and footer shapes.
• Feature APIs like table.nextPage(), column.toggleSorting(), and row.toggleSelected() remain the preferred way to update state.
• Lit templates still render header groups, rows, and cells from the table instance.

The main migration is replacing the v8 controller-with-options-thunk with a v9 controller plus .table(options, selector?), then moving feature and row-model setup into the v9 shape.

Core Breaking Changes#

Controller Construction Change#

// v8
private tableController = new TableController(this, () => ({
  columns,
  data: this.data,
}))

protected render() {
  const table = this.tableController.table
  return html`...`
}

// v9
private tableController = new TableController<typeof features, Person>(this)

protected render() {
  const table = this.tableController.table({
    features,
    columns,
    data: this.data,
  })

  return html`...`
}

The v9 controller takes the host only. Pass options to .table(...) during render.

New Required features Table Option#

In Table V9, you must explicitly declare which features your table uses. Features, Row Models, and Row Model processing "Fns" are defined on the new features table option.

// Table V8
import {
  TableController,
  getCoreRowModel,
  getSortedRowModel,
  sortingFns,
} from '@tanstack/lit-table'

private tableController = new TableController(this, () => ({
  columns,
  data: this.data,
  getCoreRowModel: getCoreRowModel(),
  getSortedRowModel: getSortedRowModel(),
  sortingFns,
}))

// Table V9
import {
  createSortedRowModel,
  rowSortingFeature,
  sortFns,
  TableController,
  tableFeatures,
} from '@tanstack/lit-table'

// All table options that concern including code modules (features, row models, Fns, etc.)
const features = tableFeatures({
  rowSortingFeature, // new - import and pass the feature you want to use
  sortedRowModel: createSortedRowModel(), // now row models are defined on the features object
  sortFns, // now Fns are defined on the features object
  // ...more features, row models, etc.
})

private tableController = new TableController<typeof features, Person>(this)

protected render() {
  const table = this.tableController.table({
    features, // new required option
    columns,
    data: this.data,
  })
}

Shortcut: Use stockFeatures for Table V8-like Behavior#

stockFeatures is useful for early migration before you audit feature usage.

import { stockFeatures } from '@tanstack/lit-table'

const table = this.tableController.table({
  features: stockFeatures,
  columns,
  data: this.data,
})

Use it as a temporary migration shortcut. Explicit feature registration is the production target.

Available Features#

Row Model and Function Registry Migration#

Row model factories and function registries are now slots on tableFeatures({...}). The separate rowModels option is removed. Row model slots are type-checked, so each row model must be specified after its associated feature in the same tableFeatures call.

Migration Mapping#

Function registries move to slots too: pass filterFns, sortFns, and aggregationFns directly to tableFeatures instead of as factory arguments.

Full Migration Example#

// v8
import {
  TableController,
  getCoreRowModel,
  getFilteredRowModel,
  getPaginationRowModel,
  getSortedRowModel,
  filterFns,
  sortingFns,
} from '@tanstack/lit-table'

private tableController = new TableController(this, () => ({
  columns,
  data: this.data,
  getCoreRowModel: getCoreRowModel(),
  getFilteredRowModel: getFilteredRowModel(),
  getSortedRowModel: getSortedRowModel(),
  getPaginationRowModel: getPaginationRowModel(),
  filterFns,
  sortingFns,
}))

// v9
import {
  TableController,
  columnFilteringFeature,
  createFilteredRowModel,
  createPaginatedRowModel,
  createSortedRowModel,
  filterFns,
  rowPaginationFeature,
  rowSortingFeature,
  sortFns,
  tableFeatures,
} from '@tanstack/lit-table'

const features = tableFeatures({
  columnFilteringFeature,
  rowPaginationFeature,
  rowSortingFeature,
  filteredRowModel: createFilteredRowModel(),
  sortedRowModel: createSortedRowModel(),
  paginatedRowModel: createPaginatedRowModel(),
  filterFns,
  sortFns,
})

private tableController = new TableController<typeof features, Person>(this)

protected render() {
  const table = this.tableController.table({
    features,
    columns,
    data: this.data,
  })

  return html`...`
}

Prefer Individual Fn Imports Over Full Registries#

The filterFns, sortFns, and aggregationFns registry exports are now deprecated in favor of importing individual filterFn_*, sortFn_*, and aggregationFn_* functions and registering only the ones you use (or passing functions directly in column definitions with no registration at all). The full registries still work, but spreading them puts every built-in function in your bundle. Keep in mind that string names, including the default 'auto', only resolve functions you have registered.

// Before: registers every built-in function
import { filterFns, sortFns } from '@tanstack/lit-table'

const features = tableFeatures({
  // ...other features and row models
  filterFns,
  sortFns,
})

// After: registers only the functions you use
import {
  filterFn_includesString,
  sortFn_alphanumeric,
  sortFn_text,
} from '@tanstack/lit-table'

const features = tableFeatures({
  // ...other features and row models
  filterFns: { includesString: filterFn_includesString },
  sortFns: { alphanumeric: sortFn_alphanumeric, text: sortFn_text },
})

Instance Methods Must Be Called on Their Instance#

In v9, methods on rows, cells, columns, headers, and similar table objects are shared on the object's prototype instead of being created as arrow functions on each object. This improves memory usage, but it means destructuring those methods loses the this context they need to operate on the instance.

// v8 - worked because getValue closed over the row object
const { getValue } = row
const value = getValue('name')

// v9 - call the method on the instance
const value = row.getValue('name')

This applies to row, cell, column, header, and related instance APIs, but not to the table instance itself. Audit code that destructures methods from table objects or passes them around as bare callbacks. Prefer calling them through the original object, for example row.getValue('name'), cell.getContext(), column.getCanSort(), or header.getContext().

Because these methods now live on the prototype, they also do not appear as own properties in Object.keys(instance), object spread, or JSON.stringify. A shallow clone like { ...row } copies row data but does not copy row methods. The methods are still callable normally because JavaScript looks them up through the prototype chain.

State Management Changes#

Lit v9 table state is atom-backed and controller-driven. The controller requests host updates when table store or option store changes.

Accessing State#

// v8
const sorting = table.getState().sorting

// v9: full snapshot
const sorting = table.store.state.sorting

// v9: narrow atom read
const sorting = table.atoms.sorting.get()

By default, table.state contains the full registered table state.

const table = this.tableController.table({
  features,
  columns,
  data: this.data,
})

const { pagination, sorting } = table.state

Pass a second-argument selector when you want table.state to contain only the values that should be selected for render code.

const table = this.tableController.table(
  {
    features,
    columns,
    data: this.data,
  },
  (state) => ({
    pagination: state.pagination,
  }),
)

table.state.pagination

Passing (state) => state is equivalent to the default selector and is no longer necessary.

Selecting State with table.subscribe#

private paginationSelector = (state) => ({
  pagination: state.pagination,
})

${table.subscribe(
  table.store,
  this.paginationSelector,
  ({ pagination }) => html`
    <span>Page ${pagination.pageIndex + 1}</span>
  `,
)}

It is advised to use a stable reference for the selector function, such as a class method or an arrow function defined outside of render, to avoid unnecessary re-renders.

Controlled State#

The preferred v9 pattern for owning state slices is external atoms, described below. The v8-style controlled-state pattern is still supported: use Lit @state() fields with per-slice callbacks.

import { state } from 'lit/decorators.js'
import type { PaginationState, SortingState } from '@tanstack/lit-table'

@state()
private sorting: SortingState = []

@state()
private pagination: PaginationState = {
  pageIndex: 0,
  pageSize: 10,
}

protected render() {
  const table = this.tableController.table({
    features,
    columns,
    data: this.data,
    state: {
      sorting: this.sorting,
      pagination: this.pagination,
    },
    onSortingChange: (updater) => {
      this.sorting =
        updater instanceof Function ? updater(this.sorting) : updater
    },
    onPaginationChange: (updater) => {
      this.pagination =
        updater instanceof Function ? updater(this.pagination) : updater
    },
  })

  return html`...`
}

The v8-style top-level onStateChange callback is gone. Use per-slice callbacks or external atoms.

If you want to lift or listen to any state change, set up a subscription to the table.store:

const unsubscribe = table.store.subscribe((state) => {
  console.log(state)
})

External Atoms#

Use external atoms when the app should own and share state slices outside the table.

import { createAtom } from '@tanstack/store'
import type { PaginationState, SortingState } from '@tanstack/lit-table'

const sortingAtom = createAtom<SortingState>([])
const paginationAtom = createAtom<PaginationState>({
  pageIndex: 0,
  pageSize: 10,
})

protected render() {
  const table = this.tableController.table({
    features,
    columns,
    data: this.data,
    atoms: {
      sorting: sortingAtom,
      pagination: paginationAtom,
    },
  })

  return html`<span>Page ${paginationAtom.get().pageIndex + 1}</span>`
}

Do not provide both atoms.pagination and state.pagination; the atom owns that slice.

Feature-by-Feature Breaking Changes#

Sorting#

Column Pinning#

V9 changes column pinning to use logical start/end terminology instead of the physical left/right terminology used in V8. In LTR languages/layouts, start usually corresponds to left and end to right; in RTL languages/layouts, start usually corresponds to right and end to left. There are no deprecated aliases.

This rename is about logical table regions, not automatic DOM direction handling. For sticky column pinning, prefer CSS logical properties like insetInlineStart and insetInlineEnd. The columnResizeDirection table option is unchanged.

Table-level enablePinning split into:

enableColumnPinning: true
enableRowPinning: true

Column Sizing vs. Column Resizing Split#

Column resizing now has its own feature and state slice.

const features = tableFeatures({
  columnSizingFeature,
  columnResizingFeature,
})

columnSizingInfo became columnResizing, and onColumnSizingInfoChange became onColumnResizingChange.

Grouping and Aggregation#

Aggregation is now its own feature, independent from column grouping. stockFeatures still includes both, so tables using it need no feature-registration change. If you declare features explicitly, add rowAggregationFeature whenever columns use aggregationFn, aggregatedCell, getAggregationValue, or cell.getIsAggregated. Add columnGroupingFeature and groupedRowModel only when you also group rows.

const features = tableFeatures({
  rowAggregationFeature,
  columnGroupingFeature, // only for grouped rows
  groupedRowModel: createGroupedRowModel(),
  aggregationFns: { sum: aggregationFn_sum },
})

Custom aggregation callables have changed to context-based definitions:

// Table V8/earlier V9 betas
const total = (columnId, leafRows, childRows) =>
  leafRows.reduce((sum, row) => sum + row.getValue(columnId), 0)

// Current V9
const total = constructAggregationFn({
  aggregate: ({ rows, getValue }) =>
    rows.reduce((sum, row) => sum + Number(getValue(row)), 0),
})

The old per-function choice between childRows and leafRows is replaced by a single depth-selected context.rows, controlled by the maxAggregationDepth column option. The default (0) preserves V8's direct-child grouped aggregation; use Infinity to aggregate terminal leaf rows.

column.getAggregationValue() now takes a single options object instead of positional arguments:

// Table V8/earlier V9 betas
column.getAggregationValue(rows, maxDepth)

// Current V9
column.getAggregationValue({ rows, maxDepth })

column.getAggregationFn() is now column.getAggregationFns() because a column can run multiple definitions, and the old callable AggregationFn/CreatedAggregationFn types are replaced by AggregationFnDef.

See the Grouping Guide and the Aggregation Guide for full documentation of the new capabilities.

Row Selection#

The "some rows selected" checks were simplified to mean "at least one row is selected":

In v8 these returned false once every row was selected; in v9 they stay true. If you use them to drive an indeterminate "select all" checkbox, gate the indeterminate state on the matching all-selected check so it clears at full selection:

getIsSomeRowsSelected() && !getIsAllRowsSelected()

Row and Internal API Changes#

Some row APIs have changed from private to public:

All other internal APIs prefixed with _ have been removed. If you were using any of these, use their public equivalents:

• Removed: table._getPinnedRows()
• Removed: table._getFacetedRowModel()
• Removed: table._getFacetedMinMaxValues()
• Removed: table._getFacetedUniqueValues()

Column Helper Changes#

Column helpers and column types now include TFeatures first.

// v8
const columnHelper = createColumnHelper<Person>()
const columns: ColumnDef<Person>[] = [
  columnHelper.accessor('age', {
    header: 'Age',
    sortingFn: 'alphanumeric',
  }),
]

// v9
const columnHelper = createColumnHelper<typeof features, Person>()
const columns: Array<ColumnDef<typeof features, Person>> = columnHelper.columns(
  [
    columnHelper.accessor('age', {
      header: 'Age',
      sortFn: 'alphanumeric',
    }),
  ],
)

Use columnHelper.columns([...]) for better inference across nested columns.

Rendering Changes#

Replace v8 flexRender(def, context) calls with FlexRender({ cell | header | footer }).

// v8
html`<td>${flexRender(cell.column.columnDef.cell, cell.getContext())}</td>`

// v9
html`<td>${FlexRender({ cell })}</td>`
html`<th>${FlexRender({ header })}</th>`
html`<td>${FlexRender({ footer })}</td>`

The table instance also exposes table.FlexRender:

html`<td>${table.FlexRender({ cell })}</td>`

The tableOptions() Utility#

tableOptions() helps compose shared table option fragments.

import { tableOptions } from '@tanstack/lit-table'

const baseOptions = tableOptions({
  features,
  defaultColumn: {
    minSize: 40,
  },
})

const table = this.tableController.table({
  ...baseOptions,
  columns,
  data: this.data,
})

createTableHook: Composable Table Patterns#

createTableHook creates shared Lit table helpers with features (including row model slots) and render helpers already bound.

import { createTableHook } from '@tanstack/lit-table'

export const { useAppTable, createAppColumnHelper } = createTableHook({
  features,
})

const columnHelper = createAppColumnHelper<Person>()

@customElement('people-table')
class PeopleTable extends LitElement {
  private appTable = useAppTable(this, {
    columns,
    data: this.data,
  })

  protected render() {
    const table = this.appTable.table()
    return html`...`
  }
}

See the Composable Tables Guide for full patterns.

TypeScript Changes Summary#

Type Generics#

Use TFeatures as the first generic:

ColumnDef<typeof features, Person>
Column<typeof features, Person>
Row<typeof features, Person>
Table<typeof features, Person>

Using typeof features#

const features = tableFeatures({
  rowSortingFeature,
  rowPaginationFeature,
})

const columnHelper = createColumnHelper<typeof features, Person>()

Using StockFeatures#

import type { StockFeatures } from '@tanstack/lit-table'

type PersonColumn = ColumnDef<StockFeatures, Person>

TableMeta/ColumnMeta Typing Changes#

No more declaration merging required! (Although it still works if you want to keep using it)

Global declaration merging works exactly like it did in v8. The only change you need to make is updating the generics shape: both interfaces now take TFeatures as the first type parameter.

declare module '@tanstack/lit-table' {
  interface ColumnMeta<TFeatures, TData, TValue> {
    align?: 'left' | 'right'
  }
}

That's all that's required if you want to keep declaring meta types globally.

Optionally, v9 also adds a new way to declare meta types per-table without declaration merging. You can use type-only tableMeta/columnMeta slots on the features option, which only affect tables created with that features object:

const features = tableFeatures({
  rowSortingFeature,
  columnMeta: metaHelper<{ align?: 'left' | 'right' }>(),
})

See the new Table and Column Meta Guide for full details on both approaches.

FilterFns/SortFns/AggregationFns/FilterMeta Augmentation Replaced by Registry Slots#

In v8, making a custom function usable as a string reference (like filterFn: 'fuzzy') required declare module augmentation of the FilterFns interface, and typing filter meta required augmenting FilterMeta. In v9, registering the function in the matching registry slot does both jobs with no global augmentation:

// v8
declare module '@tanstack/lit-table' {
  interface FilterFns {
    fuzzy: FilterFn<unknown>
  }
  interface FilterMeta {
    itemRank: RankingInfo
  }
}

// v9 - register in the slot; the key becomes a valid string value
interface FuzzyFilterMeta {
  itemRank?: RankingInfo
}

const features = tableFeatures({
  columnFilteringFeature,
  filteredRowModel: createFilteredRowModel(),
  filterFns: { fuzzy: fuzzyFilter },
  filterMeta: metaHelper<FuzzyFilterMeta>(),
})

// 'fuzzy' now typechecks in column defs for tables using these features
columnHelper.accessor('name', { filterFn: 'fuzzy' })

The same pattern applies to sortFns (for sortFn string values) and aggregationFns (for aggregationFn string values). See the Fuzzy Filtering Guide for a complete example.

RowData Type Restriction#

Prefer explicit object row types:

type Person = {
  firstName: string
  lastName: string
  age: number
}

Migration Checklist#

• Replace controller construction with new TableController<typeof features, TData>(this).
• Move table options from the controller constructor into tableController.table(...).
• Define features using tableFeatures() (or use stockFeatures)
• Move row model factories and function registries into tableFeatures({...}) slots (remove the separate rowModels option).
• Remove getCoreRowModel; the core row model is automatic.
• Register sortFns, filterFns, and aggregationFns as slots on tableFeatures({...}) (not as factory arguments).
• Replace destructured row/cell/column/header methods with calls on the instance (for example, row.getValue('name')).
• Rename sortingFn to sortFn.
• Convert custom aggregation callables to constructAggregationFn({ aggregate, merge? }) definitions.
• Replace table.getState() reads with table.state, table.store.state, or table.atoms.<slice>.get().
• Replace top-level onStateChange with per-slice callbacks or external atoms.
• Add typeof features to column helpers and types.
• Replace declare module augmentation of FilterFns/SortFns/AggregationFns with registry-slot registration, and FilterMeta augmentation with the filterMeta slot.
• Replace flexRender(...) calls with FlexRender({ cell | header | footer }).
• Audit stockFeatures before production.

Examples#

• Basic TableController
• Basic App Table
• Basic External Atoms
• Basic External State
• Sorting
• Pagination
• Composable Tables