Tanstack Table Core Column Pinning

This skill builds on core, table-features, and column-sizing. Pinning partitions models; CSS creates the sticky visual result.

Setup

import {
  columnPinningFeature,
  columnSizingFeature,
  tableFeatures,
} from '@tanstack/table-core'

export const features = tableFeatures({
  columnSizingFeature,
  columnPinningFeature,
})
export const initialState = {
  columnPinning: { start: ['name'], end: ['actions'] },
}

Core Patterns

const style = (column: Column<any, any>) => ({
  position: column.getIsPinned() ? 'sticky' : 'relative',
  insetInlineStart:
    column.getIsPinned() === 'start'
      ? `${column.getStart('start')}px`
      : undefined,
  insetInlineEnd:
    column.getIsPinned() === 'end' ? `${column.getAfter('end')}px` : undefined,
  width: `${column.getSize()}px`,
  zIndex: column.getIsPinned() ? 1 : 0,
  background: 'Canvas',
})

Common Mistakes

[HIGH] Using physical v8 regions

Wrong: column.pin('left')

Correct: column.pin('start')

V9 uses logical start and end, including state and collection APIs.

Source: docs/framework/react/guide/migrating.md#column-pinning

[HIGH] Expecting sticky CSS automatically

Wrong: column.pin('start')

Correct: Object.assign(cell.style, style(column))

The feature only computes regions and offsets; the renderer owns positioning, backgrounds, overflow, and stacking.

Source: examples/react/column-pinning-sticky/src/main.tsx

[HIGH] Diverging rendered and model widths

Wrong: cell.style.width = 'auto'

Correct: cell.style.width = ${column.getSize()}px``

Sticky offsets use numeric sizes, so mismatched DOM widths create gaps or overlaps.

Source: docs/framework/react/guide/column-pinning.md#useful-column-pinning-apis

API Discovery

Inspect node_modules/@tanstack/table-core/dist/features/column-pinning/; use CSS logical properties for direction-aware rendering.