Databricks skills

Build custom Python data sources for Apache Spark using the PySpark DataSource API — batch and streaming readers/writers for external systems. Use this skill whenever someone wants to connect Spark to an external system (database, API, message queue, custom protocol), build a Spark connector or plugin in Python, implement a DataSourceReader or DataSourceWriter, pull data from or push data to a system via Spark, or work with the PySpark DataSource API in any way. Even if they just say "read from X in Spark" or "write DataFrame to Y" and there's no native connector, this skill applies.

Execute code and manage compute on Databricks: run Python/Scala/SQL/R via serverless, classic, or interactive clusters, and create/resize/delete clusters and SQL warehouses.

Previews, provisions, or diagnoses a uv-managed local Python .venv with `databricks environments setup-local`. Use when the user wants to set up or fix one for Databricks Connect, cluster or serverless compute, `--job-task`, or a bundle target, or when setup-local fails.

Databricks development guidance including Python SDK, Databricks Connect, CLI, and REST API. Use when working with databricks-sdk, databricks-connect, or Databricks APIs.

Databricks Model Serving endpoint lifecycle and ops. Use when asked to: CRUD serving endpoints (CLI or MLflow Deployments client); configure traffic routing for A/B / canary deploys and zero-downtime version swaps; retrieve OpenAPI schemas; inspect logs, metrics, or permissions; manage legacy AI Gateway rate limits (not Unity Gateway); discover Foundation Model API endpoints at runtime; integrate endpoints into Databricks Apps; or stream from off-platform clients (Vercel AI SDK v6, standalone Node.js). NOT for: Unity Gateway CRUD and management (databricks-unity-gateway), training, MLflow autologging, UC registration, custom PyFunc/ResponsesAgent authoring (databricks-ml-training); no-code document / data agents incl. legacy Knowledge Assistants & Supervisor Agents (databricks-genie-agents); MLflow evaluation (databricks-mlflow-evaluation).

Build apps on Databricks Apps platform. Use when asked to create data apps, analytics tools, or custom interactive visualizations. A plain "create a dashboard" request means a managed AI/BI (Lakeview) dashboard → use databricks-aibi-dashboards, not this skill. Evaluates data access patterns (analytics vs Lakebase synced tables) before scaffolding. Invoke BEFORE starting implementation.

Train ML models on Databricks. Use for: classification/regression/deep-learning (XGBoost, scikit-learn, LightGBM, PyTorch) with Optuna, @prod/@challenger aliases, batch scoring (spark_udf for plain models, fe.score_batch for feature-store-backed), custom PyFunc, custom ResponsesAgent (LangGraph + UC Function/Vector Search); UC feature tables + FeatureLookup + point-in-time joins + Lakebase online store; declarative Feature Views (create_feature, DeltaTableSource, RollingWindow/SlidingWindow/TumblingWindow, materialize_features, streaming Kafka features). NOT for: endpoint ops (databricks-model-serving), MLflow evaluation (databricks-mlflow-evaluation).

Create, configure, validate, deploy, run, and manage Declarative Automation Bundles (DABs, formerly Databricks Asset Bundles). Use when working with Databricks resources via DABs including dashboards, jobs, pipelines, alerts, volumes, and apps.

Develop and deploy Lakeflow Jobs on Databricks via DABs, Python SDK, or the CLI. Use when creating data engineering jobs with notebooks, Python wheels, SQL, dbt, or pipelines. Invoke BEFORE starting implementation. For compute (serverless, performance mode, classic), also use databricks-serverless.

Develop Lakeflow Spark Declarative Pipelines (formerly Delta Live Tables) on Databricks. Use when building batch or streaming data pipelines with Python or SQL, including Auto CDC from event streams or periodic complete snapshots. Invoke BEFORE starting implementation.

Migrate Databricks workloads from classic compute to serverless compute. Use when migrating notebooks, jobs, pipelines, or Scala JARs (`spark_jar_task`) from classic clusters to serverless, checking if existing code is serverless-compatible, or writing new serverless-compatible code. Provides concrete fixes for the serverless Spark Connect architecture and guides the full migration. Not for classic DBR version upgrades or cluster configuration changes within classic compute.

Databricks Lakebase Postgres: projects, scaling, connectivity, Lakebase synced tables, and Data API. Use when asked about Lakebase databases, OLTP storage, or connecting apps to Postgres on Databricks.

Unity Catalog governance, access control, and observability. Use to grant or revoke access (GRANT/REVOKE), reason about the privilege model and ownership, set up row-level security and column masks, create external locations and storage credentials, define catalogs/schemas/tables/volumes, answer "who can read this table", and query system tables (audit, lineage, billing) or work with volume files in /Volumes/.

Apache Iceberg tables on Databricks — Managed Iceberg tables, External Iceberg Reads (fka Uniform), Compatibility Mode, Iceberg REST Catalog (IRC), Iceberg v3, Snowflake interop, PyIceberg, OSS Spark, external engine access and credential vending. Use when creating Iceberg tables, enabling External Iceberg Reads (uniform) on Delta tables (including Streaming Tables and Materialized Views via compatibility mode), configuring external engines to read Databricks tables via Unity Catalog IRC, integrating with Snowflake catalog to read Foreign Iceberg tables

Databricks CLI operations: auth, profiles, data exploration, and bundles. Contains up-to-date guidelines for Databricks-related CLI tasks.

Use this skill when the user wants to create Unity Catalog metric views — whether starting from gold/fact tables, existing AI/BI dashboards, SQL query files, Genie spaces, or KPI spreadsheets. Triggers on intent like "formalize our KPIs," "build a metric/semantic layer," "define measures and dimensions from our tables," "standardize aggregations so other teams can reuse them," or "turn our ad-hoc queries into reusable metrics." Guides an interactive workflow — analyzing source assets, generating YAML definitions, checking for overlap with existing views, and deploying. Do NOT use for querying or altering an already-existing metric view, comparing metric view frameworks, creating regular Unity Catalog tables/schemas, or MLflow/model tracking.

Design the UX of custom-code Databricks Apps (AppKit/React) data screens — KPI/overview pages, reports, charts, tables, and Genie/chat data assistants — mapped to concrete AppKit components. Use when BUILDING or reviewing the UI of an AppKit/React app that displays data or answers data questions: choosing genre, layout, charts, KPIs, semantic color, required states (loading/empty/error), IBCS notation, and AI-result trust (showing generated SQL/sources for Genie/chat). A plain "create a dashboard" request means a managed AI/BI (Lakeview) dashboard → use databricks-aibi-dashboards, NOT this skill. Also NOT for non-data frontend (forms, settings, auth, marketing) or scaffolding/build/deploy (→ databricks-apps). Complements databricks-apps; use it alongside whenever a custom app has a chart, table, KPI, report, or Genie/chat/AI surface.

Comprehensive guide to Spark Structured Streaming for production workloads. Use when building streaming pipelines, working with Kafka ingestion, implementing Real-Time Mode (RTM), configuring triggers (processingTime, availableNow), handling stateful operations with watermarks, optimizing checkpoints, performing stream-stream or stream-static joins, writing to multiple sinks, or tuning streaming cost and performance.

Use when querying or calling pay-per-token foundation models, or when creating, updating, listing, or querying Unity Gateway (also called Unity AI Gateway) services, including model provider services, MCP services, system.ai services, and three-part Unity Catalog service names (catalog.schema.service). Also use for managing spend budgets and usage alerts on Unity Gateway, and for migrating from legacy AI Gateway. Also use when a workload with Model Serving endpoint permissions (for example CAN_QUERY) gets PERMISSION_DENIED querying a three-part model name, since serving-endpoint access does not grant access to a Unity Gateway service. Not for configuring legacy AI Gateway on Model Serving endpoints; use databricks-model-serving for that.

Push records from apps, services, devices, or scripts directly into Unity Catalog Delta tables with Zerobus Ingest: SDKs (Python, TypeScript, Go, Java, Rust, C++, .NET), REST, OTLP, MQTT, Arrow Flight, or Apache Kafka-compatible producer APIs, with no message bus to run. Use to stream events, telemetry, logs, IoT data, CDC, or columnar batches into Databricks in near real time; connect existing collectors and log shippers (OpenTelemetry, Debezium, Vector, Telegraf, Cribl); replace a message bus that only feeds the lakehouse; or debug Zerobus auth, schema, throughput, or delivery issues.

Serverless compute for Databricks jobs, Lakeflow pipelines and Declarative Automation Bundles (DABs), with STANDARD or PERFORMANCE_OPTIMIZED and classic only where serverless cannot run the workload. Use when creating, deploying, scheduling or editing a job or pipeline, or deciding its compute. Invoke BEFORE writing a job spec. For migrating existing classic workloads, use databricks-serverless-migration.

Databricks SQL (DBSQL) advanced features and SQL warehouse capabilities. This skill MUST be invoked when the user mentions: "DBSQL", "Databricks SQL", "SQL warehouse", "SQL scripting", "stored procedure", "CALL procedure", "materialized view", "CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW", "pipe syntax", "|>", "geospatial", "H3", "ST_", "spatial SQL", "collation", "COLLATE", "ai_query", "ai_classify", "ai_extract", "ai_gen", "AI function", "http_request", "remote_query", "read_files", "Lakehouse Federation", "recursive CTE", "WITH RECURSIVE", "multi-statement transaction", "temp table", "temporary view", "pipe operator". SHOULD also invoke when the user asks about SQL best practices, data modeling patterns, or advanced SQL features on Databricks.

Databricks CLI operations and the parent/entry-point skill for Databricks CLI use: authentication, profile selection, and bundles. Load this first for CLI, auth, profile, and bundle tasks, then load the matching product skill. For finding or exploring data, answering questions about the data, or generating SQL, load the databricks-data-discovery skill (it routes to Genie One). Contains up-to-date guidelines for Databricks-related CLI tasks.

Databricks documentation reference via llms.txt index. Use when other skills do not cover a topic, looking up unfamiliar Databricks features, or needing authoritative docs on APIs, configurations, or platform capabilities.