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CockroachDB supports a wide range of data types for storing and manipulating different kinds of data. All PostgreSQL data types are supported with some extensions for distributed systems.

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Supported Types

The following table lists all data types available in CockroachDB:
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ARRAY
array
A 1-dimensional, 1-indexed, homogeneous array of any non-array data type.
SELECT ARRAY['sky','road','car'];
-- Result: {"sky","road","car"}
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BIT
bit string
A string of binary digits (bits).
SELECT B'10010101';
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BOOL
boolean
A Boolean value: true or false.
SELECT true, false;
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BYTES
byte array
A string of binary characters.
SELECT b'\141\061\142\062\143\063';
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DATE
date
A date without time zone information.
SELECT DATE '2016-01-25';
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DECIMAL
numeric
An exact, fixed-point number. Use for monetary values and when precision is critical.
SELECT 1.2345::DECIMAL;
SELECT DECIMAL '99.99';
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ENUM
enumerated
A user-defined data type comprised of a set of static values.
CREATE TYPE suit AS ENUM ('club', 'diamond', 'heart', 'spade');
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FLOAT
floating-point
A 64-bit, inexact, floating-point number.
SELECT 1.2345::FLOAT;
SELECT FLOAT '123.45e-3';
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INET
network address
An IPv4 or IPv6 address.
SELECT INET '192.168.0.1';
SELECT INET '2001:4f8:3:ba:2e0:81ff:fe22:d1f1';
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INT
integer
A signed integer, up to 64 bits. Aliases: INTEGER, INT8, INT64, BIGINT.
SELECT 12345::INT;
SELECT -9223372036854775807::INT8;
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INT2
smallint
A 16-bit signed integer. Alias: SMALLINT. Range: -32768 to +32767.
SELECT 100::INT2;
​
INT4
integer
A 32-bit signed integer. Range: -2147483648 to +2147483647.
SELECT 50000::INT4;
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INTERVAL
duration
A span of time.
SELECT INTERVAL '2h30m30s';
SELECT INTERVAL '1 day 2 hours';
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JSONB
json
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) data stored in a binary format.
SELECT '{"name": "Lola", "age": 5}'::JSONB;
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STRING
text
A string of Unicode characters. Aliases: TEXT, VARCHAR, CHAR.
SELECT 'hello world'::STRING;
SELECT STRING 'CockroachDB';
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TIME
time
A time of day in UTC without date information.
SELECT TIME '01:23:45.123456';
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TIMETZ
time with timezone
A time of day with a specified time zone offset from UTC.
SELECT TIMETZ '01:23:45.123456-5:00';
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TIMESTAMP
timestamp
A date and time pairing in UTC.
SELECT TIMESTAMP '2016-01-25 10:10:10';
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TIMESTAMPTZ
timestamp with timezone
A timestamp with a specified time zone offset from UTC.
SELECT TIMESTAMPTZ '2016-01-25 10:10:10-05:00';
​
UUID
uuid
A 128-bit hexadecimal universally unique identifier.
SELECT '7f9c24e8-3b12-4fef-91e0-56a2d5a246ec'::UUID;
SELECT gen_random_uuid();
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VECTOR
vector
A fixed-length array of floating-point numbers for vector embeddings.
SELECT '[1.0, 0.0, 0.0]'::VECTOR(3);

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Type Conversions and Casts

You can convert values between different data types using explicit casts:
Convert from a string literal to a specific type:
SELECT DATE '2008-12-21';
SELECT INT '123';
SELECT BOOL 'true';
For constant values, use type literals (e.g., DATE '2016-01-01') instead of casts for more predictable results.

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Integer Size Considerations

By default, INT is an alias for INT8, which creates 64-bit signed integers. This differs from PostgreSQL’s default 32-bit INT.

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JavaScript Compatibility

JavaScript represents numbers as 64-bit floats with only 53 bits of numeric accuracy. The maximum safe integer in JavaScript (2^53) is much smaller than CockroachDB’s INT maximum: 
9223372036854775807  # CockroachDB INT8 max
   9007199254740991  # JavaScript safe integer max
If your application uses JavaScript, consider using INT4 (32-bit) or STRING for large integer values.

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Changing Default Integer Size

You can change the default integer size using:
Session Variable
SET default_int_size = 4;  -- Use 32-bit integers
Cluster Setting
SET CLUSTER SETTING sql.defaults.default_int_size = 4;

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Implicit Casting to Arrays

CockroachDB supports implicit casting from string literals to arrays of all data types except:
  • BYTES
  • ENUM
  • JSONB
  • SERIAL
  • Spatial types (BOX2D, GEOGRAPHY, GEOMETRY)
SELECT '{1,2,3}'::INT[];
-- Result: {1,2,3}

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String Length Limits

To limit the length of a string column, use STRING(n) where n is the maximum number of characters: 
CREATE TABLE users (
  username STRING(50),
  bio TEXT
);
Set length limits on indexed string columns to avoid performance issues. Very large string values in indexes can cause significant performance degradation.

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Collations

STRING values support collations for language-specific sorting: 
CREATE TABLE products (
  name STRING COLLATE en PRIMARY KEY
);

SELECT * FROM products ORDER BY name;

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See Also

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