Upgrade Guide

Unfortunately for JavaScript users, Apache Arrow JS does not publish detailed upgrade notes beyond the common Apache Arrow release notes.

Also Apache Arrow JS follows a cross-language versioning scheme. Major version bumps can be frequent and may not always correspond to user-facing JavaScript changes.

The biggest Arrow JS changes affecting APIs were introduced in v9.0 (based on feedback from loaders.gl users).

Upgrading to v21.0

• No broadly breaking Arrow JS-only API changes were documented for this stream in the release notes.
• If you are upgrading from v15-v17, focus on:
  • Ensure apache-arrow is resolved to one version in your app (avoid dual installs).
  • Prefer makeTable, tableFromArrays, tableFromIPC, makeBuilder, and stream readers/writers over older class-specific factories.
  • Replace legacy column references (getColumn) with getChild/getChildAt and avoid removed DataFrame/FilteredDataFrame APIs.

For loaders.gl users, prefer a single apache-arrow major line across browser and node environments to avoid stream and schema incompatibilities.

Upgrading to v17.0

• No major breaking Arrow JS-only API changes were documented for this stream.

For loaders.gl users moving from older versions, verify the following common changes:

• RecordBatchWriter factory usage and stream writer entry points (RecordBatchStreamWriter, RecordBatchFileWriter) are the normal writer constructors.
• APIs that depended on deprecated concepts (DataFrame, Column, FilteredDataFrame, predicate helpers) should be migrated to Arrow-native table/vector workflows.
• Confirm environment-specific bundling for browser/Node stream support, especially if you ship custom stream polyfills.

Upgrading to v16.0

• No significant changes in Apache Arrow JS.

Upgrading to v15.0

• No significant changes in Apache Arrow JS.

Upgrading to v14.0

• No significant changes in Apache Arrow JS.

Upgrading to v13.0

• Apache Arrow JS removed the BigInt compatibility workaround.

Upgrading to v12.0

• Bug found: can break table reads in rare cases when dictionaries have bigint keys.

Upgrading to v11.0

• No significant changes in Apache Arrow JS.

Upgrading to v10.0

• No significant changes in Apache Arrow JS.

Upgrading to v7.0 / v8.0 / v9.0

In case it is helpful, changes made to loaders.gl can be found in this PR

These releases made a series of breaking changes to Apache Arrow JS to transform it into a lean, tree-shakeable "core" library.

The downside is that upgrading through Arrow JS v7.0-v9.0 tends to require care since documentation is sparse.

The following are high-level observations from migrating applications:

Removed core classes

Removed Feature	Alternative	Comment
Column class	Vector class	Vector supports chunking, removing the need for a separate Column class.

Removed static constructors

Removed Feature	Alternative	Comment
Data static factory methods	makeData() function	Static constructors were replaced with factory helpers.
Column static factory methods	makeVector() function
Table static factory methods	makeTable() function
Schema static factory methods	makeSchema() function

DataFrame removal — the API removed a number of higher-level conveniences built outside Arrow core. These are now expected to be composed by user code.

Removed Feature	Alternative	Comment
DataFrame	N/A	See above
FilteredDataFrame	N/A	See above
Predicates	N/A	Implement app-level filter helpers
Table.filter	N/A	Implement app-level filter helpers

For filtering and data-frame style operations, libraries like Arquero are common alternatives.

If you need loader-specific migration notes, also check: PR 1931

Upgrading to v6.0 and earlier

Unfortunately we don't have notes for these releases.