AI / Apache Paimon Interview questions
What is the difference between the sequence.field and rowkind.field options?
Both influence how Paimon merges records for the same primary key, but they control different aspects:
| Option | Controls |
| sequence.field | Which column decides merge order when records arrive out of order (e.g. an event-time or version column). |
| rowkind.field | Which column tells Paimon the record's change type — insert, update, or delete — when the source doesn't carry that as native metadata. |
CREATE TABLE my_table ( pk BIGINT PRIMARY KEY NOT ENFORCED, v STRING, op_type STRING, -- e.g. '+I', '-U', '+U', '-D' update_time TIMESTAMP ) WITH ( 'sequence.field' = 'update_time', 'rowkind.field' = 'op_type' );
A source with an explicit "operation type" text column but no reliable ordering guarantee would typically set both: sequence.field to resolve out-of-order arrival, and rowkind.field so Paimon knows the incoming row marked '-D' should be treated as a delete rather than an ordinary update.
sequence.field is used to control:
rowkind.field is used when:
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