By name: dagster-expert description: Expert guidance for working with Dagster and the dg CLI. ALWAYS use before doing any task that requires knowledge specific to Dagster, or that references assets, materialization, or data pipelines. Common tasks may include creating a new project, adding new definitions, understanding the current project structure, answering general questions about the codebase (finding asset, schedule, sensor, component or job definitions), debugging issues, or providing deep information about a specific Dagster concept.
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.
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.) | 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 | dagster-integrations skill |
| complex triggers, different triggers, hot/cold dependencies, conditional automation | 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)
dg scaffold defs dagster.asset defs/assets/my_asset.py
dg scaffold defs dagster.schedule defs/schedules/daily.py
dg scaffold defs dagster.sensor defs/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.)