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Project Structure

Know the detailed PB project structure, configuration files and their parameters.

Once you complete the Profile Builder CLI steps, you will be able to see the Profile Builder project on your machine.

This guide explains the configuration files structure along with their fields and description:

Project structure

pb_project.yaml

The pb_project.yaml file contains the project details like the name, schema version, warehouse connection, entityEntity refers to a digital representation of a class of real world distinct objects for which you can create a profile. names along with ID types, etc.

A sample pb_project.yaml file with entity type as user:

name: sample_attribution
schema_version: 49
connection: test
include_untimed: true
model_folders:
  - models
entities:
  - name: user
    id_types:
      - main_id
      - user_id
      - anonymous_id
      - email
packages:
  - name: corelib
    url: "https://github.com/rudderlabs/rudderstack-profiles-corelib/tag/schema_{{best_schema_version}}"

# Profiles can also use certain model types defined in Python.
# Examples include ML models. Those dependencies are specified here.
python_requirements:
  - profiles-pycorelib==0.1.0

The following table explains the fields used in the above file:

FieldData typeDescription
nameStringName of the project.
schema_versionIntegerProject’s YAML version. Each new schema version comes with improvements and added functionalities.
connectionStringConnection name from siteconfig.yaml used for connecting to the warehouse.
include_untimedBooleanDetermines if inputs having no timestamps should be allowed. If true, data without timestamps is included when running the models.
model_foldersStringNames of folders where model files are stored.
entitiesListLists all the entities used in the project for which you can define models. Each entry for an entity here is a JSON object specifying entity’s name and attributes.
packagesListList of packages with their name and URL. Optionally, you can also extend ID types filters for including or excluding certain values from this list.
entities
FieldData typeDescription
nameStringName of the entity used in the project.
id_typesListList of all identifier types associated with the current entity.
warning

The identifiers listed in id_types may have a many-to-one relationship with an entity but each ID must belong to a single entity.

For example, a user entity might have id_types as the salesforce_id, anonymous_id, email, and session_id (a user may have many session IDs over time). However, it should not include something like ip_address, as a single IP can be used by different users at different times and it is not considered as a user identifier.

packages

You can import library packages in a project signifying where the project inherits its properties from.

FieldData typeDescription
nameStringSpecify a name.
urlStringHTTPS URL of the lib package, with a tag for the best schema version.

inputs.yaml

The inputs.yaml file lists all the input sources (tables/views) which should be used to obtain values for models and eventually create output tables.

It also specifies the table/view along with column name and SQL expression for retrieving values. The input specification may also include metadata, and the constraints on those columns.

A sample inputs.yaml file:

inputs:
  - name: salesforceTasks
    contract:
      is_optional: false
      is_event_stream: true
      with_entity_ids:
        - user
      with_columns:
        - name: activitydate
        - name: whoid
    app_defaults:
      table: salesforce.task
      occurred_at_col: activitydate
      ids:
        # column name or sql expression
        - select: "whoid" 
          type: salesforce_id
          entity: user
          to_default_stitcher: true
  - name: salesforceContact
    contract:
      is_optional: false
      is_event_stream: true
      with_entity_ids:
        - user
      with_columns:
        - name: createddate
        - name: id
        - name: email
    app_defaults:
      table: salesforce.contact
      occurred_at_col: createddate
      ids:
        - select: "id"
          type: salesforce_id
          entity: user
          to_default_stitcher: true
        - select: "case when lower(email) like any ('%gmail%', '%yahoo%') then lower(email)  else split_part(lower(email),'@',2) end"
          type: email
          entity: user
          to_default_stitcher: true
  - name: websitePageVisits
    contract:
      is_optional: false
      is_event_stream: true
      with_entity_ids:
        - user
      with_columns:
        - name: timestamp
        - name: anonymous_id
        - name: context_traits_email
        - name: user_id
    app_defaults:
      table: autotrack.pages
      occurred_at_col: timestamp
      ids:
        - select: "anonymous_id"
          type: rudder_anon_id
          entity: user
          to_default_stitcher: true
        # below sql expression check the email type, if it is gmail and yahoo return email otherwise spilt email return domain of email.  
        - select: "case when lower(coalesce(context_traits_email, user_id)) like any ('%gmail%', '%yahoo%') then lower(coalesce(context_traits_email, user_id))  \
              else split_part(lower(coalesce(context_traits_email, user_id)),'@',2) end"
          type: email
          entity: user
          to_default_stitcher: true

The following table explains the fields used in the above file:

FieldData typeDescription
nameStringName of the input model.
contractDictionaryA model contract provides essential information about the model like the necessary columns and entity IDs that it should contain. This is crucial for other models that depend on it, as it helps find errors early and closer to the point of their origin.
app_defaultsDictionaryValues that input defaults to when you run the project directly. For library projects, you can remap the inputs and override the app defaults while importing the library projects.
contract
FieldData typeDescription
is_optionalBooleanWhether the model’s existence in the warehouse is mandatory.
is_event_streamBooleanWhether the table/view is a series/stream of events. A model that has a timestamp column is an event stream model.
with_entity_idsListList of all entities with which the model is related. A model M1 is considered related to model M2 if there is an ID of model M2 in M1’s output columns.
with_columnsListList of all ID columns that this contract is applicable for.
app_defaults
FieldData typeDescription
table/viewStringName of the warehouse table/view containing the data. You can prefix the table/view with an external schema or database in the same warehouse, if applicable. Note that you can specify either a table or view but not both.
occurred_at_colStringName of the column in table/view containing the timestamp.
idsListSpecifies the list of all IDs present in the source table along with their column names (or column SQL expressions).

Note: Some input columns may contain IDs of associated entities. By their presence, such ID columns associate the row with the entity of the ID. The ID Stitcher may use these declarations to automatically discover ID-to-ID edges.
ids
FieldData typeDescription
selectStringSpecifies the column name to be used as the identifier. You can also specify a SQL expression if some transformation is required.

Note: You can also refer table from another Database/Schema in the same data warehouse. For example, table: <database_name>.<schema_name>.<table_name>.
typeStringType of identifier. All the ID types of a project are declared in pb_project.yaml. You can specify additional filters on the column expression.

Note: Each ID type is linked only with a single entity.
entityStringEntity name defined in the pb_project.yaml file to which the ID belongs.
to_default_stitcherBooleanSet this optional field to false for the ID to be excluded from the default ID stitcher.

profiles.yaml

The profiles.yaml file lists entity_vars / input_vars used to create the output tables under var_groups:.

FieldData typeDescription
nameStringA unique name for the var_group.
entity_keyStringThe entity to which the var_group belongs to.
varsObjectThis section is used to specify variables, with the help of entity_var and input_var. Aggregation on stitched ID type is done by default and is implicit.

Optionally, you can create models using the above vars. The following fields are common for all the model types:

FieldData typeDescription
nameStringName of the model. Note that a table with the same name is created in the data warehouse. For example, if you define the name as user_table, the output table will be named something like Material_user_table_<rest-of-generated-hash>_<timestamp-number>.
model_typeStringDefines the type of model. Possible values are: id_stitcher, feature_table_model, and sql_template.
model_specObjectCreates a detailed configuration specification for the target model. Different schema is applicable for different model types as explained in each section below.

RudderStack supports the following model types:

README.md

The README.md file provides a quick overview on how to use PB along with SQL queries for data analysis.



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