Hi Shem, Thank you for reaching out and for your strong interest in the GSoC 2026 project "Flink Connector for IoTDB 2.X Table Mode" (GSOC-308)! It's great to see you've already reviewed the existing flink-iotdb-connector and the IoTDB 2.X table mode documentation — that puts you in a very good position.
Regarding your question about the IoTDB Table Source implementation: We strongly prefer using IoTDB’s native session interface (specifically TableSessionBuilder / ITableSession for the 2.X table model) rather than the JDBC API. The native client gives us better performance, more direct control over query execution, cursor handling, and full support for table-mode features (like proper schema mapping for tags/fields, time column handling, and future filter pushdown). The existing tree-mode connector in iotdb-extras already follows this native approach, and all the PoCs and discussions in the community have converged on TableSessionBuilder for table mode. JDBC works for general-purpose tools, but for a high-performance Flink connector we recommend the native path. Here are the key places we recommend studying closely: The current tree mode flink-iotdb-connector source/sink in iotdb-extras (to understand the overall architecture and data flow):https://github.com/apache/iotdb-extras/tree/master/connectors/flink-iotdb-connector The IoTDB Java Native API documentation, especially TableSessionBuilder and ITableSession (in the main IoTDB repo) If you’d like early feedback on your proposal draft, feel free to share a link or attach it — we’re happy to review and give pointers before the March 31 deadline. Just let us know if you have any other questions in the meantime. Looking forward to seeing your proposal! Best regards, Haonan (on behalf of the IoTDB dev community) > On Mar 27, 2026, at 3:10 AM, Shem Okech <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Haonan and the IoTDB dev community, > > My name is Shem Okech, I have 3 years of work experience with a background in > Java and backend/data engineering. I'm interested in applying for the GSoC > 2026 project: "Flink Connector for IoTDB 2.X Table Mode" (GSOC-308). > > I've reviewed the existing flink-iotdb-connector and the IoTDB 2.X table mode > documentation to understand the gap this project addresses. I have a question > to make sure I design my proposal correctly: > > For the IoTDB Table Source implementation, is the expectation to use the JDBC > API for query execution, or should the connector communicate directly with > IoTDB's native session interface? I want to understand the preferred approach > before finalizing my design. > > I'm already working on my proposal and plan to submit before the March 31 > deadline. I'd really appreciate any early feedback or pointers to parts of > the codebase I should study closely. > > Thank you, > Shem Okech.
