tools-only Dagster Expert Skill
Expert guidance for building production-quality Dagster projects. Routes you to detailed reference documentation for assets, automation, project structure, and CLI commands.
IMPORTANT: For new assets, schedules, or sensors, ALWAYS use
dg scaffoldbefore manual file creation. See cli/scaffold.md.Invoke EARLY: If the task involves automation conditions, scheduling logic, or integration components (dbt, Fivetran, etc.), invoke this skill or the appropriate sub-skill BEFORE exploring the codebase. The references contain all needed patterns.
Task Router
| What do you need? | Reference |
|---|---|
| Create a project | Quick Reference below (use uvx create-dagster project) |
| Add an asset/schedule/sensor | cli/scaffold.md (ALWAYS scaffold first) + pattern docs |
| Add integration component (dbt, Fivetran, Airbyte, Snowflake, etc.) | Invoke dagster-integrations skill (contains scaffolding, YAML schema, adapter requirements) |
| Complex scheduling / different triggers per dependency | automation/declarative-automation/README.md |
| Run/materialize assets | cli/launch.md |
| Select specific assets | cli/asset-selection.md |
| List definitions | cli/list.md |
| Validate project | cli/check.md |
| Understand asset patterns | assets.md |
| Understand project layout | project-structure.md |
| Set up automation | automation/README.md |
| Debug/get logs | cli/api.md |
| Configure env vars | env-vars.md |
| Implementation workflow | implementation-workflow.md |
Keyword Router
| Keywords | Reference |
|---|---|
| create project, new project, init, setup | Quick Reference below |
| workspace, multi-project, multiple projects | Quick Reference below |
| scaffold, generate, create asset/schedule/sensor | cli/scaffold.md |
| dbt, fivetran, airbyte, snowflake, bigquery, external tool, integration component, dagster_dbt, dagster_fivetran | Invoke dagster-integrations skill directly |
| complex triggers, different triggers, hot/cold dependencies, conditional automation | automation/declarative-automation/README.md |
| automation_condition, AutomationCondition, eager(), any_downstream_conditions | automation/declarative-automation/README.md |
| list, show, find, discover, what assets | cli/list.md |
| validate, check, verify, test config | cli/check.md |
| launch, run, materialize, execute, backfill | cli/launch.md |
| select, filter, tag, group, kind, upstream, downstream | cli/asset-selection.md |
| logs, debug, troubleshoot run | cli/api.md |
| deploy, plus, cloud | cli/api.md |
| asset, dependency, metadata, partition | assets.md |
| schedule, cron, time-based | automation/schedules.md |
| sensor, event-driven, trigger | automation/sensors/ |
| declarative automation, conditions | automation/declarative-automation/ |
| project structure, code location, definitions | project-structure.md |
| environment variables, env, config | env-vars.md |
Quick Reference
# Project Setup
uvx create-dagster project <name> --uv-sync # --uv-sync creates venv and installs deps
uvx create-dagster workspace <name> # For multiple related projects
# Output confirms success—no verification needed
# Scaffold (ALWAYS use for new definitions)
# NOTE: Paths are RELATIVE TO defs/ directory, not project root
dg scaffold defs dagster.asset assets/my_asset.py
dg scaffold defs dagster.schedule schedules/daily.py
dg scaffold defs dagster.sensor sensors/file_watcher.py
# Discover
dg list defs
dg list defs --assets "group:analytics"
dg list components
# Validate
dg check defs
# Launch
dg launch --assets "tag:priority=high"
dg launch --assets "+my_asset" # with upstream
dg launch --assets my_asset --partition 2024-01-15
Core Dagster Concepts
Brief definitions only (see reference files for detailed examples):
- Asset: Persistent object (table, file, model) produced by your pipeline
- Job: Selection of assets to execute together
- Schedule: Time-based automation using cron
- Sensor: Event-driven automation that watches for changes
- Declarative Automation: Modern automation where you set conditions on assets
- Partition: Logical division of data (by date, category)
- Component: Reusable, declarative building block (YAML-based)
UV Compatibility
Projects use uv for dependency management:
uv run dg list defs
uv run dg launch --assets my_asset
Related Skills
- dagster-integrations - Find and configure integration components (dbt, Fivetran, Sling, etc.)