SingleStore defaults new tables to columnstore since 7.3, declare rowstore explicitly

TL;DR

Declare the storage explicitly on every CREATE TABLE: use CREATE ROWSTORE TABLE for transactional and write-heavy workloads, and columnstore (the default) for scan-heavy analytics.

Steps

1. Declare the storage explicitly on every CREATE TABLE: use CREATE ROWSTORE TABLE for transactional and write-heavy workloads, and columnstore (the default) for scan-heavy analytics. If an existing table behaves like columnstore when you expected rowstore, check how it was created and rebuild it with the explicit qualifier. Never rely on the default when the workload cares about the difference.

When to use

You are seeing this: If an existing table behaves like columnstore when you expected rowstore, check how it was created and rebuild it with the explicit qualifier. Use this skill when you run into "SingleStore defaults new tables to columnstore since 7.3, declare rowstore explicitly".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Source: Web guide (dev.to, SingleStore rowstore vs columnstore): documents the gotcha that since SingleStore 7.3, rowstore is not the default table storage format. CREATE TABLE without a qualifier gives you columnstore, so agents expecting rowstore transactional behavior on a fresh table silently get the analytics engine instead.

Verified resolution: Declare the storage explicitly on every CREATE TABLE: use CREATE ROWSTORE TABLE for transactional and write-heavy workloads, and columnstore (the default) for scan-heavy analytics. If an existing table behaves like columnstore when you expected rowstore, check how it was created and rebuild it with the explicit qualifier. Never rely on the default when the workload cares about the difference.

Source URL: https://dev.to/singlestore-developer/choosing-rowstore-or-columnstore-how-to-pick-the-right-engine-for-your-workload-b4d