[4] pry(main)> item.tags
=> ["foo", "bar", "baz"]
```
---
### Author:  [@pointlessone](https://discourse.rom-rb.org/u/pointlessone)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://discourse.rom-rb.org/t/attribute-serialization/700/3 "2025-06-27T20:29:01Z")
In the db the column is `text NOT NULL`. SQLite has native support for JSON columns but as far as I can tell ROM doesn’t use it.
Thank you for the workaround.
BTW, since you mention there’s some sort of error do you think it’s worth filing an issue?
---
### Author:  [@alassek](https://discourse.rom-rb.org/u/alassek)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://discourse.rom-rb.org/t/attribute-serialization/700/4 "2025-06-27T20:52:08Z")
> [@pointlessone](#):
>
> SQLite has native support for JSON columns but as far as I can tell ROM doesn’t use it.
SQLite does not have JSON datatypes as far as I can tell. It has built-in helper functions for working with JSON & JSONB, but the underlying column type is TEXT or BLOB. That makes it more difficult for an adapter to transparently support them as JSON, since it can’t differentiate unstructured TEXT from JSON TEXT.
However, it should be possible to override the behavior with the correct serialization rules, as you are trying to do. I would suggest opening a ticket, since this does appear to be a bug somewhere, but I can’t guarantee it will be looked at in the near term.
---
### Author:  [@pointlessone](https://discourse.rom-rb.org/u/pointlessone)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://discourse.rom-rb.org/t/attribute-serialization/700/5 "2025-08-08T13:01:52Z")
I had a chance to look at the code a bit and here’s what I found.
It doesn’t happen in pg because pg redefines `Commands::Create#insert`
Default (and sqlite):
```ruby
def insert(tuples)
pks = tuples.map { |tuple| relation.insert(tuple) }
relation.where(relation.primary_key => pks).to_a
end
```
PG:
```ruby
def insert(tuples)
dataset = tuples.flat_map do |tuple|
returning_dataset.insert(tuple)
end
wrap_dataset(dataset)
end
```
In sqlite first type mapping happens in:
block{} at […]/rom-core-5.4.0/lib/rom/relation.rb:224 (in `Relation#each`)
And the second happens in `finalize` (called as the after hook).
As far as I can tell, in sqlite/default version of `insert` returns already deserialized columns. `to_a` does that (actually, `Relation#each`).
In pg this is not the case. `insert` returns values from the db and `finalize` does the actual deserialization.
I’m not sure what to do with these findings though. Is this useful? Do I file an issue on gh?