How sources work
Computed columns read from source columns in the sheet. For example, aPrompt output column can map a prompt variable to Customer message, and a Quality score column can read from Prompt output. If a source changes, dependent computed cells can become stale.
Column type overview
| UI label | Type value | Category | Use when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text | TEXT | Text | You need editable input data, expected answers, labels, metadata, or notes. |
| Prompt Template | PROMPT_TEMPLATE | Data source / execution | You want to run a Prompt Registry template or inline prompt for each row. |
| Workflow | WORKFLOW | Data source / execution | You want a row to execute a PromptLayer workflow. |
| Code Execution | CODE_EXECUTION | Data source / execution | You need Python or JavaScript logic per row. |
| Endpoint | ENDPOINT | Data source / execution | You want to send row data to an external URL endpoint. |
| MCP | MCP | Data source / execution | You want to call Model Context Protocol server functions. |
| Conversation Simulator | CONVERSATION_SIMULATOR | Data source / execution | You want to simulate a multi-turn user and assistant conversation. |
| Human | HUMAN | Data source / execution | You need a human to fill in or approve data. |
| While Loop | WHILE_LOOP | Data source / execution | You need repeated execution while a condition remains true. |
| For Loop | FOR_LOOP | Data source / execution | You need to iterate over a collection or array. |
| Composition | COMPOSITION | Data source / execution | You want to reference data from another sheet or table. |
| Compare | COMPARE | Simple eval | You want to compare values and generate a diff or comparison result. |
| Contains | CONTAINS | Simple eval | You want to check whether text contains a substring. |
| Regex | REGEX | Simple eval | You want to validate text against a regular expression. |
| Absolute Numeric Distance | ABSOLUTE_NUMERIC_DISTANCE | Simple eval | You want the absolute distance between numeric values. |
| Assert Valid | ASSERT_VALID | Simple eval | You want to validate data types or formats. |
| Math Operator | MATH_OPERATOR | Simple eval | You want mathematical comparisons such as greater than or less than. |
| LLM Assertion | LLM_ASSERTION | LLM eval | You want an LLM to judge whether an assertion is true. |
| AI Data Extraction | AI_DATA_EXTRACTION | LLM eval | You want an LLM to extract specific information from text. |
| Cosine Similarity | COSINE_SIMILARITY | LLM eval | You want semantic similarity between vectors or text embeddings. |
| JSON Extraction | JSON_PATH | Helper | You want to extract values from JSON with JSONPath. |
| XML Path | XML_PATH | Helper | You want to extract values from XML with XPath. |
| Regex Extraction | REGEX_EXTRACTION | Helper | You want to extract capture groups from text. |
| Parse Value | PARSE_VALUE | Helper | You want to parse a specific value from structured or unstructured data. |
| Count | COUNT | Helper | You want counts of elements, characters, or occurrences. |
| Min Max | MIN_MAX | Helper | You want the minimum or maximum value from numeric inputs. |
| Coalesce | COALESCE | Helper | You want the first non-null value from several sources. |
| Combine Columns | COMBINE_COLUMNS | Helper | You want to merge values from multiple sources into one output. |
| Apply Diff | APPLY_DIFF | Helper | You want to apply a unified diff patch to text. |
Composition
Composition references a source table, sheet, and column, then pulls that value into the current sheet. Use it when multiple sheets should share a reusable intermediate result instead of copying logic.
API references
Use the generated API reference for exact request schemas when creating or updating columns programmatically.Create column
Create text or computed columns.
Update column
Update title, config, and dependencies.