Skip to main content

SQLBuild

Verify early. Test properly. Deploy reversibly. SQL pipelines with the rigor of real software.

Valid isn't the same as correct. Your SQL compiles, runs, and returns rows; none of that means the number is right, and a silently-wrong number a stakeholder already trusted is the bug that actually hurts.

SQLBuild brings software-engineering rigor to SQL pipelines: catch errors before the warehouse runs them, test your logic locally, and opt into change-aware execution when you need it. It works as a standalone framework or points at your existing dbt project with no migration and no edits to your dbt files.

All state is persisted as append-only tables in the warehouse alongside your data: no external state database, no manifest files, no paid add-on. It keeps a low, dbt-like floor for SQL models and adds ingestion, Python nodes, and opt-in virtual environments as your project grows.

Key features

  • Test your logic, not just your columns. Multi-model SQL tests resolve every intermediate model from its real SQL, plus end-to-end scenarios with local DuckDB replay for fast CI with no warehouse. Catch wrong logic before it ships, not just nulls.
  • Verify early. Define models as SQL files with MODEL() headers. SQLBuild resolves references, validates SQL, infers columns, checks contracts, and computes column lineage before anything runs, all offline. It fails at compile, not halfway through a warehouse run.
  • Fast and open static analysis. SQL parsing, validation, column inference, lineage, and transpilation run on Polyglot, a Rust SQL engine (MIT, 32+ dialects), so compile stays fast on large projects. The analysis is part of the Apache-2.0 core: no proprietary engine, no login, no paid tier.
  • Audits that block bad data. Audits run before data reaches the target table. Full table builds materialize into a staging table and only promote if audits pass; incremental models validate each batch before DML.
  • Deploy reversibly (opt-in). Virtual environments add instant low-copy branching, partial promotion, rollback, checkpoints, and reconciliation. Opt-in, not a tax you pay upfront.
  • Opt-in change-aware execution. Models, seeds, UDFs, and Python nodes are fingerprinted, and source freshness is tracked. In virtual environments, pass --changes-only or set changes_only = true to skip work that is already current; commands otherwise run the full selected scope.
  • Works with your existing dbt project. Point SQLBuild at a dbt project and run ordinary dbt selections alongside SQLBuild models. It reads the manifest and drives the dbt CLI as a subprocess; it never edits your dbt files. dbt-native --state and --defer remain available for production-shaped, state-aware selections. See dbt compatibility.
  • Warehouse-native state. All change-tracking state lives in append-only tables (_sqlbuild_fingerprints, _sqlbuild_source_freshness, _sqlbuild_node_results) in your warehouse schemas. No external state machine, no corruption risk.
  • Cursor-based incremental processing. Automatic gap detection and resume, with microbatch mode for large ranges. No external checkpoint to maintain.
  • Ingestion and Python nodes. Load external data with Python @loader functions, and run @task, @asset, and @check nodes as first-class members of the same DAG as your SQL models.

See the documentation for the full feature set, including providers, lifecycle hooks, Python macros, UDFs, custom materializations, data diffs, zero-copy cloning, and virtual environments.

Works with your existing dbt project

Point SQLBuild at a dbt project and run a sqb dbt command. The first time, it bootstraps a minimal twin project from your dbt_project.yml and profile (reusing your dbt connection), then runs your selection through dbt:

sqb dbt build --select path:models/marts

SQLBuild preserves dbt-native state and defer arguments when you need dbt's own state-aware selection:

sqb dbt build --state path/to/state --defer --select state:modified+

Ordinary sqb dbt plan, run, and build commands do not fingerprint dbt models or inspect production state automatically. Use dbt-native --state/--defer for production-shaped comparisons. See dbt compatibility.

Quick start

pip install sqlbuild
# or
uv pip install sqlbuild

Create and run the included playground project:

sqb playground waffle-shop
cd waffle-shop
sqb plan
sqb build
sqb test

Example

A model is a SQL file with a MODEL() header and a SELECT. References use __ref() and __source(), and configuration, schema, and audits are declared inline:

MODEL (
  materialized table,
  columns (
    order_id (audits [not_null, unique]),
  ),
  tags [marts],
);

SELECT
  o.order_id,
  o.customer_id,
  p.amount_cents AS total_cents
FROM __ref("stg_orders") o
JOIN __ref("stg_payments") p USING (order_id)

A unit test mocks sources and asserts on the model, resolving every intermediate model automatically:

TEST();

WITH
__source__raw__orders AS (
  @mock_orders()
),
__source__raw__payments AS (
  SELECT
    1 AS payment_id,
    1 AS order_id,
    1500 AS amount_cents,
    'credit_card' AS method
),
__expected__fact_orders AS (
  SELECT 1 AS order_id, 100 AS customer_id, 1500 AS total_cents
)
SELECT 1

See the documentation for incremental models, scenarios, loaders, and more.

Kata SQL architecture checks

Kata is SQLBuild's opt-in, error-only SQL model shape checker. It runs offline over the compiled project, reports coded faults with remediations, and never rewrites SQL. Its built-in lifecycle is native: Rust resolves rule policy, parses each model, evaluates built-ins, applies suppressions, and owns the persistent cache and deterministic result ordering.

Select the default policy namespace and opt into additional exact rules in sqlbuild_project.toml. Prefix selectors activate default-enabled rules; exact selectors also activate opt-in rules:

[kata]
select = ["SQBK", "SQBKS001", "SQBKS201", "SQBKX001", "SQBKX002"]
ignore = ["SQBKS302"]

[kata.thresholds]
min_audits_per_model = 1
min_tests_per_model = 1

Run sqb kata, inspect metadata with sqb kata rule SQBKS101, and generate agent guidance from the same active ruleset with sqb kata skills. Use sqb kata skills --check in CI to detect stale guidance. --json, --select, and --exclude are available for automation and model scoping.

Repository rules use the public API:

from sqlbuild.kata import RuleContext, kata


@kata(
    code="XSQBKP001",
    family="prices",
    slug="typed-currency",
    message="price models must declare a currency column",
    remediation="Declare currency in the MODEL columns contract at this model path.",
)
def typed_currency(*, model, ctx: RuleContext):
    return [] if any(column.name == "currency" for column in ctx.declared_columns) else [
        ctx.path_fault()
    ]

Load repository-owned files through rule_paths = ["kata/rules"] or dotted packages through rule_modules. Test each custom rule with RuleCase and evaluate_rule. Selecting custom rules disables caching unless [kata.cache] require_cacheable = true; cacheable rules may import only the supported pure modules and must access project files through RuleContext.

Python is used only for the SQLBuild compiler adapter and selected custom rules. Built-in-only runs cross into the native engine once as a compiled model batch and do not materialize or walk Python AST objects. A selected custom rule can still use the public RuleContext and raw Polyglot AST escape hatch; its findings rejoin native suppression, ordering, and cache policy.

Exact rule_exceptions require a rule, file, and reason and fail when stale. Broader rule_ignores and lone-star allowances also require reasons but are intentionally not stale-checked.

Supported adapters

Adapter Status
DuckDB Supported
MotherDuck Supported
Snowflake Supported
BigQuery Supported
Databricks Supported
PostgreSQL Supported
SQL Server Supported

ClickHouse, Redshift, Trino, Spark, and Athena are on the way.

Documentation

Full documentation is available at docs.sqlbuild.com.

Contributing

We welcome contributions. Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

SQLBuild is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Download files

Download the file for your platform. If you're not sure which to choose, learn more about installing packages.

Source Distributions

No source distribution files available for this release.See tutorial on generating distribution archives.

Built Distributions

If you're not sure about the file name format, learn more about wheel file names.

sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-win_amd64.whl (4.7 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+Windows x86-64

sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl (5.0 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+manylinux: glibc 2.17+ x86-64

sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl (4.9 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+manylinux: glibc 2.17+ ARM64

sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl (4.6 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+macOS 11.0+ ARM64

sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl (4.8 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+macOS 10.12+ x86-64

File details

Details for the file sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-win_amd64.whl.

File metadata

  • Download URL: sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-win_amd64.whl
  • Upload date:
  • Size: 4.7 MB
  • Tags: CPython 3.12+, Windows x86-64
  • Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? Yes
  • Uploaded via: twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14

File hashes

Hashes for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-win_amd64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 edcf13b5cff4777965628a00a16458e8926bdbc965e0dfe725c9cbb4452a54db
MD5 02e288a57149d39d6bb8bb9bf09ea6c7
BLAKE2b-256 b1afccc425f6d5d57d67d6fb3c54d758ce9fa21b730cc17c1cbd5cec19038d24

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-win_amd64.whl:

Publisher: publish.yml on chio-labs/sqlbuild

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 e98a71e7aef35e0de7ad315d2116e9d9385a41dd0c61a79a55ab06e40948136d
MD5 9765c9c7cd2fee4f9dd7a32781303f73
BLAKE2b-256 90b1711a58a175961c0a9c88701e82a80e01baa37db44957f5e8ed5a6ec7dd38

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl:

Publisher: publish.yml on chio-labs/sqlbuild

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 d47a16235199d4cea84f68f86f5b131574fd4ec08ded467908fabb6f754d3a3f
MD5 d34dd984941469032a08b30c27aa43fe
BLAKE2b-256 462e2fc07ecbfdb464f18208ff1fd7dc1565947e51caa9f64c0f66d22faed1d3

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl:

Publisher: publish.yml on chio-labs/sqlbuild

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 a293392d650ac8cf3de30b8eeffab45a99753a7a7e7ec3b6e7e597e16309e99e
MD5 ea7793decd59242c6010b7af69d01421
BLAKE2b-256 148064a7c55cb06c9a0fd193bc3e34d2a3df4b5a5c3a8b31d634b1ec1b29f4bc

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl:

Publisher: publish.yml on chio-labs/sqlbuild

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 d30bea2db2776cc3f04ac7f0a10ba53938e9bd4504da19b9b3405d0fe57f1c38
MD5 a9dc4361755d1f07a981f0471e1172b6
BLAKE2b-256 7aa8194719432a136e9892471185e062adeb01b25dccae103f73c5a1040ecc48

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for sqlbuild-0.54.0-cp312-abi3-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl:

Publisher: publish.yml on chio-labs/sqlbuild

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

Release history Release notifications | RSS feed

0.83.2

6 files

0.83.1

6 files

0.83.0

6 files

0.82.6

6 files

0.82.5

6 files

0.82.4

6 files

0.82.3

6 files

0.82.2

6 files

0.82.1

6 files

0.82.0

6 files

0.81.2

6 files

0.81.1

6 files

0.81.0

6 files

0.80.2

6 files

0.80.1

6 files

0.80.0

6 files

0.79.0

6 files

0.78.0

6 files

0.77.2

6 files

0.77.1

6 files

0.77.0

6 files

0.76.9

6 files

0.76.8

6 files

0.76.7

6 files

0.76.6

6 files

0.76.5

6 files

0.76.4

6 files

0.76.3

6 files

0.76.2

6 files

0.76.1

6 files

0.76.0

6 files

0.75.1

6 files

0.75.0

6 files

0.74.4

6 files

0.74.3

6 files

0.74.2

6 files

0.74.1

6 files

0.74.0

6 files

0.73.0

6 files

0.72.2

6 files

0.72.1

6 files

0.72.0

6 files

0.71.6

6 files

0.71.5

6 files

0.71.4

6 files

0.71.3

6 files

0.71.2

6 files

0.71.1

6 files

0.71.0

6 files

0.70.0

6 files

0.69.0

6 files

0.68.0

6 files

0.67.2

6 files

0.67.1

6 files

0.67.0

6 files

0.66.6

6 files

0.66.5

6 files

0.66.4

6 files

0.66.3

6 files

0.66.2

6 files

0.66.1

6 files

0.66.0

6 files

0.65.6

6 files

0.65.5

6 files

0.65.4

6 files

0.65.3

6 files

0.65.2

6 files

0.65.1

6 files

0.65.0

6 files

0.64.0

6 files

0.63.8

6 files

0.63.7

6 files

0.63.6

6 files

0.63.5

6 files

0.63.4

6 files

0.63.3

6 files

0.63.2

6 files

0.63.1

6 files

0.63.0

6 files

0.62.2

6 files

0.62.1

6 files

0.62.0

6 files

0.61.0

6 files

0.60.0

6 files

0.59.0

6 files

0.58.0

6 files

0.57.0

6 files

0.56.2

6 files

0.56.1

6 files

0.56.0

6 files

0.55.9

6 files

0.55.8

6 files

0.55.7

6 files

0.55.6

6 files

0.55.5

6 files

0.55.4

6 files

0.55.3

6 files

0.55.2

6 files

0.55.1

6 files

0.55.0

6 files

0.54.2

6 files

0.54.1

6 files

This release

0.54.0 This release

5 files

0.53.0

2 files

0.52.0

2 files

0.51.0

2 files

0.50.0

2 files

0.49.0

2 files

0.48.7

2 files

0.48.6

2 files

0.48.5

2 files

0.48.4

2 files

0.48.3

2 files

0.48.2

2 files

0.48.1

2 files

0.48.0

2 files

0.47.0

2 files

0.46.0

2 files

0.45.5

2 files

0.45.4

2 files

0.45.3

2 files

0.45.2

2 files

0.45.1

2 files

0.45.0

2 files

0.44.4

2 files

0.41.1

2 files

0.41.0

2 files

0.40.1

2 files

0.40.0

2 files

0.39.3

2 files

0.39.2

2 files

0.39.1

2 files

0.39.0

2 files

0.38.6

2 files

0.38.5

2 files

0.38.4

2 files

0.38.3

2 files

0.38.2

2 files

0.38.1

2 files

0.38.0

2 files

0.37.7

2 files

0.37.6

2 files

0.37.5

2 files

0.37.4

2 files

0.37.3

2 files

0.37.2

2 files

0.37.1

2 files

0.36.0

2 files

0.35.0

2 files

0.34.0

2 files

0.33.0

2 files

0.32.0

2 files

0.31.0

2 files

0.30.1

2 files

0.30.0

2 files

0.29.0

2 files

0.28.1

2 files

0.28.0

2 files

0.27.0

2 files

0.26.2

2 files

0.26.1

2 files

0.26.0

2 files

0.25.1

2 files

0.25.0

2 files

0.24.0

2 files

0.23.0

2 files

0.22.1

2 files

0.22.0

2 files

0.21.0

2 files

0.20.1

2 files

0.20.0

2 files

0.19.0

2 files

0.18.0

2 files

0.16.2

2 files

0.16.1

2 files

0.15.0

2 files

0.14.0

2 files

0.13.0

2 files

0.12.0

2 files

0.10.0

2 files

0.9.0

2 files

0.8.0

2 files

0.7.0

2 files

0.4.0

2 files

0.3.0

2 files

0.2.1

2 files

0.2.0

2 files

0.0.1

2 files

Anthropic, PBC Visionary sponsor Bloomberg Visionary sponsor Hudson River Trading Visionary sponsor Meta Visionary sponsor NVIDIA Visionary sponsor Microsoft Sustainability sponsor Depot Continuous Integration AWS Cloud computing and Security Sponsor Datadog Monitoring Fastly CDN Google Download Analytics Sentry Error logging StatusPage Status page