altimateai-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

# Install altimate-code delegation skill
/plugin install altimate-code@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

altimate-code Delegation

Skill	Purpose	Key Behaviors
altimate-code	Hand off data tasks to altimate-code	Verify install → Invoke altimate-code run --yolo non-interactively → Read output file → Summarize for user

Use this skill when a task needs altimate-code's wired-up warehouse tools, column lineage, multi-step data exploration, or its 100+ specialized data tools.

Requires altimate-code: npm install -g altimate-code (Node 20+). Docs: docs.altimate.sh · Source: AltimateAI/altimate-code. The skill will detect a missing install and surface the exact command to the user.

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: