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Discussion topicsUpdated July 25, 2026Reviewed by the Telemetry editorial and product teams1 min read

Keep event fields consistent as instrumentation grows

Send JSON events to Telemetry and query their fields with SQL.

CamelCase vs snake_case

Use snake_case for event fields in Telemetry. Lowercase names such as total_cost work in SQL without double quotes. Mixed-case names such as totalCost need quotes to preserve their case.

Querying mixed-case fields

With a camelCase field, write:

SELECT "myFieldName" FROM my_table;

With a snake_case field, write:

SELECT my_field_name FROM my_table;

That extra quoting is easy to miss when you copy a query or add a join. Choose lowercase names when you define a new event schema, and use the same spelling across producers.

Existing schemas

You can keep existing mixed-case fields. Quote them consistently in queries, including queries you export to other systems. If you rename a field, update its producers and consumers together. Changing the spelling creates a different field; it does not rename historical data.

See schema evolution before changing a field that dashboards or alerts already use.

Related feature

Use consistent event names and field types. Check for private data before sending events.

Page authors and references

The Telemetry editorial team maintains this page. The product team checks the examples and confirms how the product behaves.

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