The new --type column-name type option for insert/upsert overrides the automatically chosen column type, which is useful for CSV/TSV columns like ZIP codes that look like integers but should be stored as TEXT to preserve leading zeros.

A long-requested feature now lets users force a column's type (e.g. TEXT for ZIP codes) rather than relying on automatic type inference during import. ✦ AI generated

Simon Willison · Simon Willison's Weblog · 2026-07-11 · original ↗

This is useful for CSV or TSV columns such as ZIP codes that look like integers but should be stored as TEXT to preserve leading zeros. A long-standing feature request which turned out to be a simple implementation.

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