git:20261019.3ab87d0 to git:20261019.d2d852a

---

name: explore

description: 'Use this whenever you need to know what is actually in a database, warehouse, or DuckDB file before you trust it: inventory, column profiles, PII detection, grain and data-quality problems, verified joins, ER diagrams, ad-hoc SQL probes, segmentation, and the semantic layer a repo declares (dbt, Apache Ossie, or SLayer). Trigger it on an unmet precondition, not on phrasing: if you are about to write or fix SQL against tables whose columns, types, grain, or join keys you have not verified in this session, use this FIRST. That includes dbt work (building a model, fixing one, debugging wrong numbers) whenever the ticket names source tables without spelling out their schema. It applies mid-task too: on reaching a table you have not inspected, stop and use this rather than guess column names. Also for "what''s in my duckdb", "is this data any good", "how do these tables relate". Read-only; writes only the .dex/ cache. It does not author the model: transform does, and maintain reconciles a project that has drifted.'

compatibility: 'Needs a local shell and uv. On first use, uv downloads the exmergo-dex-core engine from PyPI at the version scripts/run.py pins. Runs in Claude Code or another agent that loads Agent Skills and has a shell, not in claude.ai chat.'

---

# Explore

Make sense of a warehouse or a local DuckDB database the way an analytics

engineer does: rank what matters, drill selectively, and persist a draft map in

`.dex/`. This skill is read-only: it writes nothing but the `.dex/` cache.

<!-- dex:procedure:begin -->

## Procedure

dex works in one loop: explore, transform, maintain. Every step runs one engine

command, reads the single JSON envelope it prints, and decides the next step

from that envelope.

1. **Explore before you write.** Before writing or fixing SQL against a table

whose columns, types, grain, or join keys you have not verified in this

session, run `explore map` (or `explore profile <tables>` for a few named

ones) and read its grain, keys, PII flags, and data-quality findings. Answer

ad-hoc questions with `explore query`, never with a raw database client.

2. **Plan the change.** Author the file content and hand it to `transform plan`

(or `semantic define|update|plan` for the semantic layer). Nothing is written

yet. Read the diffs, the `warnings`, and, on a model that already exists,

`data.row_attribution`; re-plan until they describe the change you meant.

3. **Apply it.** `transform apply <plan-id>` writes the plan as a reviewable git

diff. A human edit made since planning comes back as `needs_confirmation`:

re-plan against the current files.

4. **Build and verify on dev.** Run `transform build --target dev --verify`. Read

`data.verification.ran` first, then relay the findings and anything under

`suppressed`. A green build says dbt ran, not that the rows are right.

5. **Maintain.** `maintain check` compares the warehouse and the project with the

`.dex/snapshot.json` baseline, and `maintain verify` checks the project as it

is now with no baseline. `maintain reconcile` proposes the fix as a plan,

applied with `transform apply`. Take `maintain snapshot` after a known-good

build.

At every step: a `needs_confirmation` envelope waits on the user's decision (a

spend, or a `dex config` diff), never on yours; only a human clears a PII

flag; and you never edit the dbt project, `.dex/config.yml`, `.dex/cache.json`,

or `.dex/plans/` by hand in place of the command that guards them.

<!-- dex:procedure:end -->

## Running the engine

Run commands from the user's project directory, so dex finds that project's

configuration and writes its cache there. The wrapper path is absolute:

- In Claude Code, `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}` is supplied by the host.

- In Codex or another Agent Skills host, resolve the directory containing this

installed `SKILL.md` from the path the host provides. Substitute that absolute

directory for `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}` in every command and reference below,

including paths in the bundled reference files. Do not assume that environment

variable exists, and do not change into the installed skill directory.

```bash

uv run --no-project --script "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/run.py" <subcommand> [flags]

```

Installed as a plugin or skill, `run.py` runs the `exmergo-dex-core` engine from

PyPI at the exact version its `DEX_CORE_VERSION` line pins, built from

https://github.com/exmergo/dex/tree/main/packages/dex-core.

- `uv` is a prerequisite that Claude Code does not install. If the shell reports

`uv: command not found`, stop and tell the user to install it

(`brew install uv` or `pipx install uv`, or the installer for their platform

from the uv docs), then re-run. Tell them the command; never run an installer

yourself. Never fall back to raw Python, `pip`, or a

database CLI: the guardrails live in the engine, so any other path is

unguarded.

- The first command in a fresh environment installs the engine and can take tens

of seconds. Offer `run.py --warm` once at setup to pay that up front; do not run

it before ordinary commands.

- With no warehouse to point at, `demo` generates a seeded local DuckDB warehouse

and its `.dex/config.yml`, after which every command runs with no flags. Offer

it rather than assume it: a user who has a warehouse wants that one read. It

only ever creates, and refuses rather than touch an existing file.

- `config validate` checks `.dex/config.yml` and `config get [key]` shows what

each setting resolves to and where it came from, without running anything

else. Change a setting with `config set <key> <value>`, not by hand: it returns

the diff as `needs_confirmation`, and the same command with `--confirm` writes

it once the user agrees. A warning naming an unknown key is a typo in a setting

that is doing nothing; remove it with `config unset <key>` and set the key it

meant with `config set`. Fields are in

`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/commands.md`.

## Exploring, step by step

1. `connect test` (`--path <file.duckdb>`, or `--connector <name>` for a

warehouse) confirms a read-only connection. To set up a warehouse connector,

read `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/connectors.md`.

2. `explore inventory --rank` returns a ranked shortlist: counts and sizes, never

rows.

3. `explore map` profiles the top-ranked objects, infers joins, writes `.dex/`,

and returns each object's grain, best key, notable columns, PII flags, and

findings, plus the join edges. **Read that payload instead of chaining

`profile` and `relationships` to re-derive it.** In a repo with a dbt project

or semantic layer, add `--use-project`: declared grain and joins count, and

each object names the `semantic_models` that read it (empty means nothing in

the layer does). Every cut is counted in `notes`, so an empty `notes` means

nothing was left out. `--detail` widens the view and spends nothing; `--full`

profiles more and does spend. On a large or metered warehouse, start with

`--scope <schema>`.

4. `explore profile <objects>` gives one object in full, or a value domain.

Read `key_evidence` before you trust a composite key: a combination that is

unique only because one member is near-unique, or because a money column

completes it, is suppressed with its reason. Where `data_quality` says a

column is unique on almost every row, the count of rows to remove is a source

defect to report, not a key to work around. A `~` marks an approximate number;

one without it is exact. A fresh cached profile is reused for free;

`--refresh` re-scans when the data changed but the schema did not.

5. `explore relationships [--verify] [--use-project]` returns the joins alone.

`--verify` measures each join's orphan fraction. An empty list comes with

notes saying what was examined, so it is an answer.

6. `explore diagram [--full]` renders the cached map as Mermaid, free and

connectionless. Reproduce `data.mermaid` verbatim in a fenced ```mermaid

block, and write it to a file only when the user asks (the engine writes

none). **Never redraw or tidy it by hand.** The glyphs are claims derived from

evidence, and a cardinality you supplied is exactly the overclaim this

command exists to prevent. Read `notes` before presenting it.

7. `explore query "<SELECT ...>" ["<SELECT ...>" ...]` answers questions the

fixed commands do not. Read `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/probe-playbook.md`

before writing a probe, and follow the query rules below.

8. `explore cluster <object> [--features a,b] [-k N]` finds segments. Run `map`

first, so the inferred joins keep foreign keys out of the features. Read the

notes before trusting a result: a cluster under 1% of the sample is an outlier

pocket, so report it as outlier detection or re-run with `-k`, and when

`sample_repeatable` is false, never compare one run with another.

9. `explore semantic list|values|query` reads the semantic layer. Read

`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/semantic-playbook.md` before running a metric

query, because a metric's `time_axis`, `filter`, and measures decide what the

number is. Narrow `list` with `--metric` or `--for-dimension`; use `--search`

to find matching metrics and what they reach. To discover a measure, dimension

or semantic model that no metric uses yet, list without `--search` rather than

assuming an empty search result means the element is absent. Run

`values <dimension>` before writing a `--where`

filter. On a native Ossie layer, `values` and `query` refuse and name the

physical route instead (`explore profile`, then `explore query` on the

relation): take it. On a SLayer layer both run locally: metrics and

dimensions are named `model.measure` and `model.column`, `--where` is

SLayer's filter syntax rather than Jinja, and `--api` is refused.

Per-command fields, caps, and backend detail are in

`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/commands.md`. Read it when a field or flag you

need is not described here.

## Rules that change what you do

### Queries and PII

- Prefer a fixed command when one answers the question. One probe answers one

question. Send related statements in one call: each is judged on its own, so a

refusal on one does not cost you the others.

- An aggregate over a PII-flagged column must measure (`COUNT`,

`APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT`, `AVG(LENGTH(...))`), never carry a value (`MIN`,

`ANY_VALUE`, `STRING_AGG`).

- A refusal names the offending column and the fix. Rewrite once; do not retry

the same shape.

- An unnest in the FROM clause must expand a column of a table in the query, and

its outputs inherit that column's PII flags. The per-connector idioms are in

the probe playbook.

- A warning that a flag sits below the blocking threshold is information to pass

to the user, not an error to fix.

- If the user says a refused column is not personal data, recommend a

`pii_overrides` entry in `.dex/config.yml` (the fully qualified column, with an

optional reason), proposed with `dex config set pii_overrides '<list>'` (the

whole list, existing entries included) so the user confirms the diff; never

confirm it yourself. Never hand-edit `.dex/cache.json` to clear a flag, and

never suggest weakening detection.

- Never propose a write to source data, and never paste a full schema into

context.

### Cost

- On a metered connector, the scanning commands (`profile`, `map`,

`relationships`, `query`, `cluster`, and a local `semantic values` or `query`)

first return `needs_confirmation` with an estimate. Surface it in human units,

get an explicit budget from the user, then re-issue the same command with

`--confirm --budget <magnitude>` in the unit the estimate names. Metadata

(`connect test`, `inventory`) is free.

- Never invent a budget. After an over-ceiling refusal, never retry with a raised

budget without asking. Relay the refusal's calibration line verbatim, and point

out that the ceiling binds on the estimate, so a budget set at the observed

fraction of the estimate is refused again.

- A `suggested_session_ceiling` is the project's one-time ask for a daily cap.

Surface it, get the user's answer, and add `--session-ceiling <value>` or

`--no-session-ceiling` to the same re-issue. Never answer it for them.

- On BigQuery, pass on the `reserved_bytes` split: whether the number is scan or

reserve decides whether a higher budget buys work or only headroom.

- When an estimate is larger than the work deserves, narrow with `--scope`

instead of raising the budget.

- `--api` (a hosted dbt Cloud layer) runs where no cost guard can reach. Relay

the warning every such result carries.

### Credentials

Credentials are discovered, never asked for. When an envelope reports missing or

expired credentials, relay the fix it names

(`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/connectors.md` lists them per connector). Never

ask the user to paste a key, token, or password.

## References

- `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/probe-playbook.md`: probe shapes for common

questions, unnest idioms, and what to do when a probe is refused.

- `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/semantic-playbook.md`: the discovery order and

the traps in metric queries.

- `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/commands.md`: each subcommand's fields, caps,

and flags.

- `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/connectors.md`: warehouse setup, credential

fixes, cost units, and `--scope` vocabulary.