Orchestration
What is a declarative pipeline?
A declarative pipeline is a schema of transforms. The engine decides when rows run, instead of you scheduling every step.
Updated
How it works
- You declare columns, views, and indexes.
- An insert or edit runs the affected expressions.
- You do not enqueue each step.
What it is not
It is not an imperative DAG you wire by hand, and it is not a chain of calls with no stored outputs.
declarative pipeline: this, and the thing it is confused with
| This | Not this | |
|---|---|---|
| You write | The schema | The scheduler |
| Runs when | Rows change | A cron or a DAG tick |
| Outputs | Columns on the rows | Files in a bucket you track |
Where Pixeltable fits
Pixeltable’s computed columns and views are that declaration. Applying the schema is the deploy.
Questions
- How does declarative pipeline work?
- You declare columns, views, and indexes. An insert or edit runs the affected expressions. You do not enqueue each step.
- What is declarative pipeline often confused with?
- It is not an imperative DAG you wire by hand, and it is not a chain of calls with no stored outputs.