AddThisFeature

Data Table Cell Primitives

Render every kind of table cell the same way, wherever the table happens to be.

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What it adds

A shared set of cell renderers for numbers, dates, people, statuses, links, and row actions, used by every table in the app.

What your agent is told to do

5
  1. 1

    Catalogue the cell types the app's tables already render and reduce them to a small set: number and currency, date and relative time, person or avatar, status or badge, link or identifier, and an actions cell.

  2. 2

    Separate each cell's underlying value from its presentation, so sorting, filtering, grouping, and export operate on the raw value while the user sees the formatted one.

  3. 3

    Align and format numerically consistent cells the same way everywhere — figures right-aligned with tabular figures and a fixed precision per column, dates in the user's locale and time zone, currency with its code where more than one is possible.

  4. 4

    Give every cell type an explicit rendering for absent data, for the loading state, and for a value the current user is not permitted to see, and make those three visually distinct from one another.

  5. 5

    Do not put more than one focusable control in a cell without deciding how it is reached. An actions cell with three buttons multiplies the tab stops in a hundred-row table; expose one primary control and put the rest behind a single menu, and leave header pinning to Sticky Table Header rather than adding a second scroll mechanism here.

Edge cases it handles

7
  • Sorting on the displayed string rather than the underlying value puts ten before nine and orders dates alphabetically; every cell must carry a sort value distinct from its label, and relative times must sort on the real timestamp.
  • Absent, still loading, and redacted are three different states and must not collapse into one dash. A blank where the user lacks permission reads as no data and leads people to draw the wrong conclusion from the table.
  • Cells must stay readable when compact. Truncate with a clear affordance and the full value available on hover and focus, keep it to one line, and make sure the truncation happens on the text rather than clipping the whole cell.
  • Row-level keyboard navigation breaks when cells add their own arrow key handling or insert extra tab stops; cell contents must cooperate with the table's existing focus model rather than compete with it.
  • Zero, null, and empty string are different values and each needs its own treatment — a zero balance is a fact, an unknown balance is not.
  • Long free text and long identifiers must not set the column width; give each cell type a sensible maximum and let the column keep its share.
  • Numbers rendered for display must round consistently with what the app exports, or a user reconciling a downloaded file against the screen will find figures that do not agree.

Definition of done

9
  • Every table in the app renders its cells through the shared primitives.
  • Sorting, filtering, and export use the raw value, never the formatted string.
  • Numbers are right-aligned with consistent precision, and dates respect the user's locale and time zone.
  • Missing, loading, and redacted values are visually and textually distinct.
  • Each row contributes a predictable number of tab stops regardless of how many actions it has.
  • Truncated cells expose their full value on hover and on focus.
  • Displayed and exported values agree to the same precision.
  • The feature matches the existing design system.
  • No existing functionality is broken.

Related features

How it works

  1. 1

    Copy the link

    Grab the Markdown instruction URL for this feature.

  2. 2

    Give it to your AI

    Paste it into Claude Code, Cursor, v0, Lovable — whatever you build with.

  3. 3

    It inspects, then implements

    Your agent reads your existing app first, then adds the feature to fit it.

Works with your stack

These instructions are written to adapt. They tell the agent to detect your framework, match your existing design system, and reuse what you already have — rather than assuming a particular stack.

Need it tighter than that? Customize the feature and tell it exactly what you're running.