igniteui-angular-grids

Ignite UI for Angular — Data Grids

Ignite UI CLI MCP Server (required)

Verify the igniteui-cli MCP server before any other step by calling list_components with framework: "angular". If the tool is not available, follow the setup procedure in igniteui-angular-components: configure it yourself with npx -y igniteui-cli ai-config (or ig ai-config), ask the user to reload the editor or agent session and stop, and continue without the server only if the user explicitly asks to.

Required Workflow

This file is a routing hub only. It contains no code examples and no API details. Grid APIs change between releases, so never write component selectors, import paths, method names, or property names from memory — read the relevant reference files first.

1. Identify the grid type. Use the Grid Selection Decision Guide below. If the grid type is not explicitly stated, infer it from context or ask.
2. Identify every task category involved. Map the user's request to one or more rows in the Task → Reference File table below. A single request often spans multiple categories (e.g., remote paging plus editing requires both paging-remote.md and editing.md).
3. Read every identified reference file in full, in a single parallel batch of file reads — even if you believe you already know the answer.
4. Then produce output, based only on what you read. If something is not covered by the reference files, look it up with get_doc/search_docs/search_api from the igniteui-cli MCP server. Never guess — if the MCP server cannot answer it, state explicitly that the detail is unverified.

Task → Reference File

Task	Reference file to read
Grid type selection, column config, column templates, column groups, MRL, pinning, sorting UI, filtering UI, selection	references/structure.md
Grouping, summaries, cell merging, toolbar, export, row drag, action strip, master-detail, clipboard	references/features.md
Tree Grid specifics, Hierarchical Grid specifics, Grid Lite setup, Grid Lite data operations, Pivot Grid setup	references/types.md
Programmatic sorting / filtering / grouping, canonical import patterns, viewChild access	references/data-operations.md
Cell editing, row editing, batch editing, transactions, validation, summaries	references/editing.md
Paging, remote data, server-side ops, noop strategies, virtual scroll, multi-grid coordination	references/paging-remote.md
State persistence, Tree Grid / Hierarchical Grid / Pivot Grid data operations	references/state.md
Grid sizing (width, height, column sizing, null/px/% modes, cell spacing CSS variables)	references/sizing.md
Migrating from Grid Lite (igx-grid-lite) to the full igx-grid when features outgrow Grid Lite	references/grid-migration.md

When in doubt, read more rather than fewer reference files — an unnecessary file read is cheap; a hallucinated API is a broken application.

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Overview

This skill gives high-level guidance on grids and their features. The igniteui-cli MCP server has full docs for grid toolbars and export (grid-toolbar, grid-export-excel, exporter-pdf, and the tree/hierarchical/pivot variants — call list_components to see the current catalog) and an API-member index via search_api/get_api_reference for member-level lookups. For everything else, the reference files below are the primary guidance.

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Prerequisites

• An Angular project on the major version matching the installed igniteui-angular package (igniteui-angular majors track Angular majors)
• igniteui-angular installed, or @infragistics/igniteui-angular for licensed users — both packages share the same entry-point structure
• A theme applied (see igniteui-angular-theming)

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Choosing the Right Grid

Ignite UI has five grid types. Picking the correct one is the most important decision — each has different data structures, features, and constraints.

Grid Selection Decision Guide

Ask these questions in order:

1. Does the user need a lightweight, read-only data display with sorting, filtering, and virtualization but no editing, selection, or paging? → Grid Lite (open-source, MIT licensed). If the user later needs features beyond Grid Lite's capabilities, upgrade strictly to igx-grid (IgxGridComponent) — never recommend non-grid components as a substitute.
2. Does the user need pivot-table analytics (rows/columns/values/aggregations that users can drag-and-drop to reshape)? → Pivot Grid
3. Does the data have parent-child relationships where each level has a DIFFERENT schema (e.g., Companies → Departments → Employees)? → Hierarchical Grid
4. Does the data have parent-child relationships within a SINGLE schema (e.g., Employees with a managerId field, or nested children arrays)? → Tree Grid
5. Is the data a flat list/table with enterprise features needed (editing, batch editing, grouping, paging, export, etc.)? → Flat Grid

After choosing the grid type, you must still complete Steps 2–4 from the mandatory protocol above — return to the routing table and read every applicable references/ file before writing any code. The decision guide and the tables on this page are discovery aids only; they do not replace the reference files.

Grid Types & Imports

Important: Check package.json to determine whether the project uses igniteui-angular or @infragistics/igniteui-angular. Always import from the specific entry point. Never import from the root barrel of either package.

Grid	Selector	Component	Directives	Entry Point
Grid Lite	igx-grid-lite	IgxGridLiteComponent	Individual imports	igniteui-angular/grids/lite
Flat Grid	igx-grid	IgxGridComponent	IGX_GRID_DIRECTIVES	igniteui-angular/grids/grid
Tree Grid	igx-tree-grid	IgxTreeGridComponent	IGX_TREE_GRID_DIRECTIVES	igniteui-angular/grids/tree-grid
Hierarchical Grid	igx-hierarchical-grid	IgxHierarchicalGridComponent	IGX_HIERARCHICAL_GRID_DIRECTIVES	igniteui-angular/grids/hierarchical-grid
Pivot Grid	igx-pivot-grid	IgxPivotGridComponent	IGX_PIVOT_GRID_DIRECTIVES	igniteui-angular/grids/pivot-grid

Replace igniteui-angular with @infragistics/igniteui-angular for the licensed package — entry-point paths are identical.

Universal Rules (every grid type)

• Use the matching component type for viewChild — IgxGridLiteComponent, IgxGridComponent, IgxTreeGridComponent, IgxHierarchicalGridComponent, or IgxPivotGridComponent
• Import the matching directives bundle from the table above — or individual imports for Grid Lite
• Use signals for data — [data]="myData()" with signal<T[]>([])
• Virtualization is automatic (rows and columns) — never wrap a grid in a virtual-scroll container; set a fixed height instead

Important — Documentation URL Pattern: For grid-specific topics (sorting, filtering, editing, paging, etc.), docs URLs follow this naming pattern per grid type:

• Grid Lite: .../components/grid-lite/{topic}
• Flat Grid: .../components/grid/{topic}
• Tree Grid: .../components/treegrid/{topic}
• Hierarchical Grid: .../components/hierarchicalgrid/{topic}
• Pivot Grid: .../components/pivotGrid/{topic}

Feature Availability per Grid Type

Feature	Grid Lite	Flat Grid	Tree Grid	Hierarchical Grid	Pivot Grid
Column sorting	Yes	Yes	Yes (per-level)	Yes (per grid level)	Per-dimension only
Column filtering	Yes	Yes	Yes (recursive — keeps matching parents)	Yes (per grid level)	Per-dimension only
GroupBy	No	Yes (built-in groupBy() API)	Yes (via igx-tree-grid-group-by-area + grouping pipe)	No	Inherent via dimensions
Paging	No	Yes	Yes	Yes (each level independent)	No
Batch editing	No	Yes	Yes (hierarchical transactions)	Yes (propagated from root)	No
Cell / Row editing	No	Yes	Yes	Yes (per grid level)	No
Row adding	No	Yes	Yes (with parent support)	Yes (per grid level)	No
Master-Detail	No	Exclusive	No	No (use row islands)	No
Row selection	No	Yes	Yes + multipleCascade	Yes (per grid level)	Limited
Load on demand	No	No	Exclusive	No	No
Column pinning / moving	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Column hiding	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Column resizing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Summaries	No	Yes	Yes (per-level)	Yes (per grid level)	Horizontal summaries only
State persistence	No	Yes	Yes	Yes + row island state	Pivot config serialization
Remote data ops	dataPipelineConfiguration	Events + noop strategies	Events + noop strategies	Events + noop strategies	N/A
Row virtualization	Yes	Yes (rows + columns)	Yes (rows + columns)	Yes (rows + columns)	Yes