diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 9838d600f..7a027407a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1841,10 +1841,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "ryu",
  "sorted-vec",
  "strum",
+ "strum_macros",
  "tempfile",
  "test-log",
  "thiserror 1.0.69",
  "tracing",
+ "uncased",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 774de264a..31794d093 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ limbo_series = { path = "extensions/series", version = "0.0.20" }
 limbo_sqlite3_parser = { path = "vendored/sqlite3-parser", version = "0.0.20" }
 limbo_time = { path = "extensions/time", version = "0.0.20" }
 limbo_uuid = { path = "extensions/uuid", version = "0.0.20" }
+strum = { version = "0.26", features = ["derive"] }
+strum_macros = "0.26"
 
 [profile.release]
 debug = "line-tables-only"
diff --git a/core/Cargo.toml b/core/Cargo.toml
index 485f94b12..27807f3dd 100644
--- a/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -69,11 +69,13 @@ limbo_ipaddr = { workspace = true, optional = true, features = ["static"] }
 limbo_completion = { workspace = true, optional = true, features = ["static"] }
 limbo_ext_tests = { workspace = true, optional = true, features = ["static"] }
 miette = "7.6.0"
-strum = "0.26"
+strum = { workspace = true }
 parking_lot = "0.12.3"
 crossbeam-skiplist = "0.1.3"
 tracing = "0.1.41"
 ryu = "1.0.19"
+uncased = "0.9.10"
+strum_macros = {workspace = true }
 bitflags = "2.9.0"
 
 [build-dependencies]
diff --git a/core/translate/collate.rs b/core/translate/collate.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bd6d1be4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/translate/collate.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+use std::cmp::Ordering;
+
+// TODO: in the future allow user to define collation sequences
+// Will have to meddle with ffi for this
+#[derive(Debug, Eq, PartialEq, strum_macros::Display, Default)]
+#[strum(ascii_case_insensitive)]
+/// **Pre defined collation sequences**\
+/// Collating functions only matter when comparing string values.
+/// Numeric values are always compared numerically, and BLOBs are always compared byte-by-byte using memcmp().
+pub enum CollationSeq {
+    /// Standard String compare
+    #[default]
+    Binary,
+    /// Ascii case insensitive
+    NoCase,
+    /// Same as Binary but with trimmed whitespace
+    Rtrim,
+}
+
+impl CollationSeq {
+    fn compare_strings(&self, lhs: &str, rhs: &str) -> Ordering {
+        match self {
+            CollationSeq::Binary => Self::binary_cmp(lhs, rhs),
+            CollationSeq::NoCase => Self::nocase_cmp(lhs, rhs),
+            CollationSeq::Rtrim => Self::rtrim_cmp(lhs, rhs),
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn binary_cmp(lhs: &str, rhs: &str) -> Ordering {
+        lhs.cmp(rhs)
+    }
+
+    fn nocase_cmp(lhs: &str, rhs: &str) -> Ordering {
+        let nocase_lhs = uncased::UncasedStr::new(lhs);
+        let nocase_rhs = uncased::UncasedStr::new(rhs);
+        nocase_lhs.cmp(nocase_rhs)
+    }
+
+    fn rtrim_cmp(lhs: &str, rhs: &str) -> Ordering {
+        lhs.trim().cmp(rhs.trim())
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/translate/mod.rs b/core/translate/mod.rs
index fa0b6d343..073df226c 100644
--- a/core/translate/mod.rs
+++ b/core/translate/mod.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 //! will read rows from the database and filter them according to a WHERE clause.
 
 pub(crate) mod aggregation;
+pub(crate) mod collate;
 pub(crate) mod delete;
 pub(crate) mod emitter;
 pub(crate) mod expr;
diff --git a/vendored/sqlite3-parser/Cargo.toml b/vendored/sqlite3-parser/Cargo.toml
index fc0f1bf8e..4701cdeba 100644
--- a/vendored/sqlite3-parser/Cargo.toml
+++ b/vendored/sqlite3-parser/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ bitflags = "2.0"
 uncased = "0.9.10"
 indexmap = "2.0"
 miette = "7.4.0"
-strum = { version = "0.26", features = ["derive"] }
-strum_macros = "0.26"
+strum = { workspace = true }
+strum_macros = {workspace = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 env_logger = { version = "0.11", default-features = false }