Data types

Understanding Prequel data types

Because data from any source can be synced to any destination, and because data types are not necessarily synonymous across data stores, a common mapping must be used to specify the source data type and predict the destination data type. As part of Prequel configuration, the expected data type must be defined ahead of time: for Export, this means specifying what data type the source will export, or for Import, specifying what data type to enforce in the destination.

Source type mapping

If you are configuring a source and need to decide what PREQUEL type to use, reference this table.

Prequel Type	Supported	Athena	BigQuery	Clickhouse	Databricks	MongoDB	MySQL	Postgres	Redshift	Snowflake	SQL Server
`bytes`	✔️	binary	bytes	blob, mediumblob, longblob	binary	binData	binary, varbinary, blob, mediumblob, longblob	bytea	VARBYTE, VARBINARY, BINARY VARYING	binary, varbinary	binary, image, varbinary
`string`	✔️	char, varchar, string	string	string, fixedstring, text, mediumtext, longtext, varchar	string	String, ObjectId	string, char, text, longtext, varchar	char, character, character varying, text, uuid, varchar	CHAR, CHARACTER, NCHAR, BPCHAR, CHARACTER VARYING, NVARCHAR, TEXT	CHAR, CHARACTER, NCHAR, BPCHAR, CHARACTER VARYING, NVARCHAR, TEXT	char, varchar, text, nvarchar, ntext, nchar
`boolean`	✔️	boolean	bool	bool, boolean	boolean	Boolean	boolean	boolean	boolean	boolean	bit
`integer`	✔️	smallint, integer	smallint, int64, bigint	int, int8, int16, int32	smallint, int	Int32	smallint, mediumint, int	smallint, integer	smallint, integer	smallint, integer	smallint, int
`bigint`	✔️	bigint	int64, bigint	int64, bigint	bigint	Int64, Long	bigint	bigint	bigint	bigint	bigint
`decimal`	✔️	decimal	decimal, numeric	decimal, numeric	decimal, dec, numeric	Decimal128	decimal, numeric	decimal, numeric	decimal, numeric	decimal, numeric	decimal, numeric
`float`	✔️	real, float	float64	float32, float64, double	float, double	Double	float, double	real, double precision	real, float4, float8, double precision	real, float4, float8, double precision	float, real
`timestamp`	✔️	timestamp	timestamp	datetime, Datetime64	timestamp	Date, Timestamp	timestamp	timestamp, timestamptz	timestamp, timestamptz	timestamp, timestamp_ntz, timestamp_tz, timestamp_ltz	datetime2
`date`	✔️	date	date	date	date		date	date	date	date	date
`json`	✔️	varchar, string	json	string*	string	Object	json	json, jsonb	varchar(MAX)	varchar, variant	nvarchar(MAX)
`time`*	✖️	varchar, string	time	time	string		time	time	time	time	time

🚧
Precision limitations for floating point types
Due to technical constraints, Prequel is unable to guarantee the absence of a loss of precision for any floating point (eg float) type. For use-cases in which precision is key, such as when transferring financial data, we strongly recommend leveraging fixed precision types instead such as decimal.

* An asterisk indicates partial support. Ask us about any specific data type limitations.

Destination type mapping

If you are predicting what data type your Recipient destination will receive, reference this table.

Prequel Type	Supported	Athena	BigQuery	Clickhouse	Databricks	MySQL	Postgres	Redshift	Snowflake	SQL Server
`bytes`	✔️	string	bytes	blob	binary	binary	bytea	VARBYTE(MAX)*	binary	blob
`string`	✔️	string	string	string	string	text	text	varchar(MAX)	text	nvarchar(MAX)
`boolean`	✔️	boolean	bool	boolean	boolean	boolean	boolean	boolean	boolean	bit
`integer`	✔️	integer	int64	integer	int	int	integer	bigint	integer	int
`bigint`	✔️	bigint	bigint	bigint	bigint	bigint	bigint	bigint	bigint	bigint
`decimal`	✔️	decimal	decimal	decimal	decimal	decimal	decimal	decimal	decimal	decimal
`float`	✔️	float	float64	double	double	double	double precision	double precision		float
`timestamp`	✔️	timestamp	timestamp	Datetime64	timestamp	timestamp	timestamptz	timestamptz	timestamp_tz	datetime2
`date`	✔️	date	date	date	date	date	date	date	date	date
`json`	✔️	string	json	string*	string	json	jsonb	varchar(MAX)	variant	nvarchar(MAX)

* An asterisk indicates partial or incomplete support. Ask us about any specific data type limitations.

Understanding Prequel data types

Source type mapping

🚧Precision limitations for floating point types

Destination type mapping

🚧
Precision limitations for floating point types