Pulse Documentation

name: op-win-row-number
description: 1-based row index within the ordered partition; never ties.
kind: operator
category: WIN
operator: WIN_ROW_NUMBER
type: reference
applies_to: process, compose, predict
examples_tags: [top-n, window-operator, buffered-pipeline]

Window operators emit row-level values; they do not produce Response.Components.

Use when

Numbers the rows 1, 2, 3 within each partition in the chosen order, for picking the first few rows of every group.

Questions it answers:

• Which are the top three products by revenue in each region?
• What is each customer’s first order, by date?

Use something else:

• WIN_RANK when rows with equal values should share a position.
• WIN_DENSE_RANK when you want ranks without gaps after equal values.

Params

None. partition_by (carve), order_by (≥1, required, numeric / date), frame (forbidden), field (forbidden — no value read).

Inputs

Output

One int64 per row written to Label (default WIN_ROW_NUMBER). Counts 1, 2, 3, ... in scan order, resets per partition. NEVER ties — row order is stable (nulls last) on the order_by comparator.

Gotchas

• Not weightable: a request weight is PROCESSING_CONFIG (windows carry no slot weight); Options.DefaultWeight is skipped.
• Ties on order_by: ROW_NUMBER picks a deterministic but arbitrary order.
• Common top-N idiom: WIN_ROW_NUMBER partitioned by group, then a range filter on the label [1, N]. Filter runs BEFORE windows in the pipeline — stage via Compose / ProcessChain.
• Result rows are NOT reordered — use Request.Sort for response order.
• Forces buffered execution (Streamable=false).

See

• pulse_examples_search tags=[top-n]
• Skills: window-design, op-win-rank, op-win-dense-rank