This skill builds on core and table-features. Let the feature object and helpers carry types through userland.

Setup

import {
  createColumnHelper,
  metaHelper,
  tableFeatures,
} from '@tanstack/table-core'

type Person = { id: string; age: number }
type ColumnMeta = { align?: 'start' | 'end' }
const features = tableFeatures({ columnMeta: metaHelper<ColumnMeta>() })
const helper = createColumnHelper<typeof features, Person>()
export const columns = helper.columns([
  helper.accessor('age', { meta: { align: 'end' } }),
])

Core Patterns

Preserve heterogeneous accessor values

const columns = helper.columns([
  helper.accessor('id', { header: 'ID' }),
  helper.accessor('age', { header: 'Age' }),
])

columns() preserves each accessor's TValue instead of widening the array.

Compose options through the helper

const defaults = tableOptions<typeof features, Person>({
  defaultColumn: { meta: { align: 'start' } },
})

Use tableOptions for reusable fragments; direct adapter options are enough for one-offs.

Common Mistakes

[HIGH] Erasing accessor value inference

Wrong:

const columns: ColumnDef<typeof features, Person, unknown>[] = [
  helper.accessor('age', {}),
]

Correct:

const columns = helper.columns([helper.accessor('age', {})])

The broad annotation discards the accessor-specific number value type.

Source: docs/guide/helpers.md#createcolumnhelper

[MEDIUM] Threading internal feature generics manually

Wrong:

type Features = TableFeatures

Correct:

type Features = typeof features

The concrete registry is the source of feature-gated APIs and registry keys.

Source: packages/table-core/src/types/TableFeatures.ts

[MEDIUM] Globally merging per-table meta

Wrong:

declare module '@tanstack/table-core' {
  interface ColumnMeta<TData, TValue> {
    align?: string
  }
}

Correct:

const features = tableFeatures({
  columnMeta: metaHelper<{ align?: 'start' | 'end' }>(),
})

V9 type-only feature slots keep meta types scoped to the table factory.

Source: docs/guide/table-and-column-meta.md

API Discovery

Inspect node_modules/@tanstack/table-core/dist/helpers/ and the signatures re-exported by dist/index.d.ts; avoid copying deep internal generic signatures into application code.