data-engineering-skills

Data Engineering Skills

Claude Code skills for Analytics & Data engineers working with dbt and Snowflake

Altimate Data Skills is a collection of Claude Code skills that encode the workflows and best practices of experienced analytics engineers. These skills transform Claude from a code generator into a capable data engineering assistant.

Key Results

• 53% accuracy on ADE-bench (43 real-world dbt tasks)
• 3x improvement on model creation tasks vs baseline
• 84% pass rate on Snowflake query optimization (62 TPC-H queries, 1TB dataset)
• 3.6x better performance gains vs baseline (16.8% avg improvement vs 4.7%)
• Skills that teach Claude how to work, not just what to write

Quick Start

/plugin marketplace add AltimateAI/data-engineering-skills

Install individual skill packs:

# Install dbt skills
/plugin install dbt-skills@data-engineering-skills

# Install Snowflake skills
/plugin install snowflake-skills@data-engineering-skills

Available Skills

dbt Skills

Skill	Purpose	Key Behaviors
creating-dbt-models	Model creation	Convention discovery → Write → Build → Verify output
debugging-dbt-errors	Error troubleshooting	Read full error → Check upstream → Apply fix → Rebuild
testing-dbt-models	Schema tests	Study existing test patterns → Match project style
documenting-dbt-models	Documentation	Analyze model → Generate descriptions
migrating-sql-to-dbt	Legacy SQL conversion	Parse SQL → Create proper dbt model
refactoring-dbt-models	Safe restructuring	Track dependencies → Apply changes → Verify downstream
developing-incremental-models	Incremental models	Strategy selection → unique_key design → Handle edge cases

Snowflake Skills

Skill	Purpose	Key Behaviors
finding-expensive-queries	Cost analysis	Find and rank queries by cost/time/data scanned
optimizing-query-by-id	Performance tuning	Optimize using query ID from history
optimizing-query-text	Performance tuning	Profile query → Identify bottlenecks → Apply patterns

How Skills Work

Skills are markdown files that teach Claude how to approach tasks, not just what syntax to use. Each skill has two parts:

1. Trigger Conditions

When should this skill activate?

---
name: creating-dbt-models
description: |
  Guide for creating dbt models. ALWAYS use this skill when:
  (1) Creating ANY new model (staging, intermediate, mart)
  (2) Task mentions "create", "build", "add" with model/table
  (3) Modifying model logic or columns
---

2. Workflow Instructions

What steps should Claude follow?

# dbt Model Development

**Read before you write. Build after you write. Verify your output.**

## Critical Rules
1. ALWAYS run `dbt build` after creating models - compile is NOT enough
2. ALWAYS verify output after build using `dbt show`
3. If build fails 3+ times, stop and reassess your approach
...

Usage Examples

Skills activate automatically based on your request:

Your Request	Skill Activated
"Create a new orders model"	creating-dbt-models
"Fix this compilation error"	debugging-dbt-errors
"Add tests to the customers model"	testing-dbt-models
"Document the revenue metrics"	documenting-dbt-models
"Create an incremental model for events"	developing-incremental-models
"This query is slow, optimize it"	optimizing-query-text

Combining with Altimate MCP Tools

Skills become even more powerful when combined with Altimate's MCP server. The MCP server provides real-time access to your dbt project and data warehouse:

MCP Tool	What It Provides
dbt_project_info	Project structure, model list, sources
dbt_model_details	Column types, dependencies, compiled SQL
dbt_compile	Compile models without CLI
snowflake_query_history	Recent query executions and stats
snowflake_table_stats	Row counts, clustering info

Kits

Kits bundle skills, MCP servers, and instructions into a single activatable unit. Instead of installing skills one by one, activate a kit to get a complete development setup.

Available Kits

Kit	Description	Skills	MCP
dbt-snowflake	Complete dbt + Snowflake setup	9 skills	dbt MCP server

Quick Start

# Install the kit
altimate-code kit install AltimateAI/data-engineering-skills