Q1/H1 2026 planning

[joseph-isaacs]

Lets make a list of topics (or links to other places)

• Known Upcoming Breaking Changes

  • VTable Unification
    • ScalarFns
    • Layouts
    • Arrays (the big one...)

• compute overhall finish up

  • cse
  • more lazy
  • kernel plugging
  • kernel selection
  • kernel aware executor?

• list

  • list <-> listview
  • list layout
  • HoF

• table api

• reader-v2 (lazy layout tree)

• AggregateFn

• scalar v2 (array-based)

• fast lanes encodings

  • rle
  • delta
  • dict

• gpu

  • gsst
  • filter
  • zstd
  • pipelined AoT kernel
  • jit pipeline kernel

• extension array+types

  • uuid
  • json
  • tags

• extension + list

  • vector
  • tensor

• IO work

  • extension point
  • resource aware runs

• duckdb

  • filter cardinality estimates
  • experiment with duckdb runtime / async-io

• datafusion

• Additional first-class layouts

  • List
  • PDX / vector-specific
  • Bloom Filter
  • Text Index

• Variant data type support

[connortsui20]

@joseph-isaacs I formatted things a bit and also added some other things. Ideally, each of these should have a link / issue associated with them.

Vortex Q1 2026 Roadmap

Topics and links to deeper planning docs.

---

Breaking Changes

• VTable Unification
  • ScalarFns
  • Layouts
  • Arrays (the big one)
  • Extension DTypes?

Compute Overhaul

• CSE (common subexpression elimination)
• More lazy evaluation
• Kernel plugging
• Kernel selection
• Kernel-aware executor

Lists

• List <-> ListView: ListView Handling normalization #6470
• List layout
• Higher-order functions

Extension Types and Arrays

• Fixed-size Binary (canonical?)
• Fixed-size List
  • Vector
  • Matrix
  • Tensor
• UUID
• JSON
• Tags

Additional First-Class Layouts

• List
• PDX / vector-specific
• Bloom filter
• Text index
• Variant data type support

Core APIs

• Table API
• Reader v2 (lazy layout readers)
• AggregateFn
• Scalar v2 (support Array and Extension variants)
  • Extension Scalars (and types): Extension Data Types #6500

FastLanes Encodings

• RLE
• Delta
• Dict

GPU

• GSST
• Filter
• zstd
• Pipelined AoT kernel
• JIT pipeline kernel

I/O and Scheduling

• Extension point
• Resource-aware runs

DuckDB Integration

• Filter cardinality estimates
• Experiment with DuckDB runtime / async IO

DataFusion Integration

• (TBD)