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# Column Generators

Column generators execute column generation in the Data Designer engine. A generator receives the upstream data needed for its task, returns row or batch data with generated values added, and reports the generation strategy the scheduler should use.

Related pages: [column\_configs](/code-reference/config/column-configs), [FileSystemSeedReader Plugins](/plugins/file-system-seed-reader-plugins), and [Custom Columns](/concepts/custom-columns).

User-facing column configs inherit from `SingleColumnConfig` and define a unique `column_type` discriminator. During compilation, the engine may group related configs into multi-column configs for generators that create sampler or seed columns together.

Generators that operate on a full batch can inherit from `ColumnGeneratorFullColumn`. Row-oriented non-model generators can inherit from `ColumnGeneratorCellByCell`. Generators that create initial rows use `FromScratchColumnGenerator`. Model-backed plugin generators should use `ColumnGeneratorWithModelRegistry` or `ColumnGeneratorWithModel`.