developing-incremental-models SKILL.md skillA
developing-incremental-models from altimateai/data-engineering-skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add altimateai/data-engineering-skills/developing-incremental-models@git:20260206.c45120aPins git:20260206.c45120a in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- altimateai/data-engineering-skills
- Path
skills/dbt/developing-incremental-models/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20260206.c45120a, committed Feb 6, 2026
- Size
- 9,175 bytes
- Repository stars
- 129
- License
- MIT
Develops and troubleshoots dbt incremental models. Use when working with incremental materialization for: (1) Creating new incremental models (choosing strategy, unique_key, partition) (2) Task mentions "incremental", "append", "merge", "upsert", or "late arriving data" (3) Troubleshooting incremental failures (merge errors, partition pruning, schema drift) (4) Optimizing incremental performance or deciding table vs incremental Guides through strategy selection, handles common incremental…
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# dbt Incremental Model Development
**Choose the right strategy. Design the unique_key carefully. Handle edge cases.**
## When to Use Incremental
| Scenario | Recommendation |
|----------|----------------|
| Source data < 10M rows | Use `table` (simpler, full refresh is fast) |
| Source data > 10M rows | Consider `incremental` |
| Source data updated in place | Use `incremental` with `merge` strategy |
| Append-only source (logs, events) | Use `incremental` with `append` strategy |
| Partitioned warehouse data | Use `insert_overwrite` if supported |
**Default to `table` unless you have a clear performance reason for incremental.**
## Critical Rules
1. **ALWAYS test with `--full-refresh` first** before relying on incremental logic
2. **ALWAYS verify unique_key is truly unique** in both source and target
3. **If merge fails 3+ times**, check unique_key for duplicates
4. **Run full refresh periodically** to prevent data drift
## Workflow
### 1. Confirm Incremental is Needed
```bash
# Check source table size
dbt show --inline "select count(*) from {{ source('schema', 'table') }}"
```
If count < 10 million, consider using `table` instead. Incremental adds complexity.
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add altimateai/data-engineering-skills/developing-incremental-models@sha256:0d4c3168f2249e22The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260206.c45120a, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_uwt7vfqjmjaws3f6)
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Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Feb 6, 2026.
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Source
altimateai/data-engineering-skills · 129 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-23 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_uwt7vfqjmjaws3f6 GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=altimateai/data-engineering-skills/developing-incremental-models GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/0d4c3168f2249e22f6938f5801087229cd4285d1caedf57795747c3195a4ccbc
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.