diff --git a/.changeset/fix-coalesce-type.md b/.changeset/fix-coalesce-type.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f52b10f2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-coalesce-type.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+'@tanstack/db': patch
+---
+
+fix(db): preserve null in coalesce() return type when no guaranteed non-null arg is present
+
+`coalesce()` was typed as returning `BasicExpression<any>`, losing all type information. The signature now infers types from all arguments via tuple generics, returns the union of non-null arg types, and only removes nullability when at least one argument is statically guaranteed non-null.
diff --git a/packages/db/src/query/builder/functions.ts b/packages/db/src/query/builder/functions.ts
index 887c1468d..49f9560dd 100644
--- a/packages/db/src/query/builder/functions.ts
+++ b/packages/db/src/query/builder/functions.ts
@@ -285,11 +285,37 @@ export function concat(
   )
 }
 
-export function coalesce(...args: Array<ExpressionLike>): BasicExpression<any> {
+// Helper type for coalesce: extracts non-nullish value types from all args
+type CoalesceArgTypes<T extends Array<ExpressionLike>> = {
+  [K in keyof T]: NonNullable<ExtractType<T[K]>>
+}[number]
+
+// Whether any arg in the tuple is statically guaranteed non-null (i.e., does not include null | undefined)
+type HasGuaranteedNonNull<T extends Array<ExpressionLike>> = {
+  [K in keyof T]: null extends ExtractType<T[K]>
+    ? undefined extends ExtractType<T[K]>
+      ? false
+      : false
+    : undefined extends ExtractType<T[K]>
+      ? false
+      : true
+}[number] extends false
+  ? false
+  : true
+
+// coalesce() return type: union of all non-null arg types; null included unless a guaranteed non-null arg exists
+type CoalesceReturnType<T extends Array<ExpressionLike>> =
+  HasGuaranteedNonNull<T> extends true
+    ? BasicExpression<CoalesceArgTypes<T>>
+    : BasicExpression<CoalesceArgTypes<T> | null>
+
+export function coalesce<T extends [ExpressionLike, ...Array<ExpressionLike>]>(
+  ...args: T
+): CoalesceReturnType<T> {
   return new Func(
     `coalesce`,
     args.map((arg) => toExpression(arg)),
-  )
+  ) as CoalesceReturnType<T>
 }
 
 export function add<T1 extends ExpressionLike, T2 extends ExpressionLike>(
diff --git a/packages/db/tests/query/builder/callback-types.test-d.ts b/packages/db/tests/query/builder/callback-types.test-d.ts
index 0e901b7fb..b1565ea32 100644
--- a/packages/db/tests/query/builder/callback-types.test-d.ts
+++ b/packages/db/tests/query/builder/callback-types.test-d.ts
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ describe(`Query Builder Callback Types`, () => {
           BasicExpression<number>
         >()
         expectTypeOf(coalesce(user.name, `Unknown`)).toEqualTypeOf<
-          BasicExpression<any>
+          BasicExpression<string>
         >()
 
         return {
diff --git a/packages/db/tests/query/builder/functions.test.ts b/packages/db/tests/query/builder/functions.test.ts
index fb6cb4f35..abc6391c9 100644
--- a/packages/db/tests/query/builder/functions.test.ts
+++ b/packages/db/tests/query/builder/functions.test.ts
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ describe(`QueryBuilder Functions`, () => {
         .from({ employees: employeesCollection })
         .select(({ employees }) => ({
           id: employees.id,
-          name_or_default: coalesce([employees.name, `Unknown`]),
+          name_or_default: coalesce(employees.name, `Unknown`),
         }))
 
       const builtQuery = getQueryIR(query)