Lea: Minimalist Alternative to Dbt

#1

Post by Lemaxoxo » Tue, Oct 17, 2023, 9:14 AM UTC

Lea: Minimalist Alternative to Dbt
github.com

Re: Lea: Minimalist Alternative to Dbt

#2

Post by Lemaxoxo » Tue, Oct 17, 2023, 9:14 AM UTC

Hey there HN. lea is a tool we developed over the past year at Carbonfact. Carbonfact is a platform that helps fashion brands decarbonize. We believe in doing this in a data-driven way, and lea is a cornerstone for us.

Re: Lea: Minimalist Alternative to Dbt

#3

Post by JeanEdern » Tue, Oct 17, 2023, 9:46 AM UTC

Really cool project! I was wondering what led you to build this tool when DBT is already open source. What were you missing?

Re: Lea: Minimalist Alternative to Dbt

#4

Post by Lemaxoxo » Tue, Oct 17, 2023, 9:54 AM UTC

JeanEdern wrote: post #3

Really cool project! I was wondering what led you to build this tool when DBT is already open source. What were you missing?

Cheers! Mainly a couple of things:

- I don't like to have to put {{ ref('source') }} everywhere. I think the tool should parse dependencies automatically. I wrote more about this here: https://maxhalford.github.io/blog/dbt-ref-rant/ - I don't like the idea each .sql file has to have an associated .yml file. It feels better to have everything in one place. For instance, with lea you can add a @UNIQUE tag as an SQL comment to unit test a column for uniqueness.

Moreover, although dbt brought a shift in the way we do data (which is great) it's very straightforward under the hood. It boils down to parsing queries, organizing them in a DAG, and processing said DAG. dbt feels bloated to me. Also, it seems to me some of the newer cool features are going to be put behind a paywall (e.g. metric layers)

Re: Lea: Minimalist Alternative to Dbt

#5

Post by JeanEdern » Tue, Oct 17, 2023, 10:28 AM UTC

Lemaxoxo wrote: post #4

JeanEdern wrote: post #3

Really cool project! I was wondering what led you to build this tool when DBT is already open source. What were you missing?

Cheers! Mainly a couple of things: - I don't like to have to put {{ ref('source') }} everywhere. I think the tool should parse dependencies automatically. I wrote more about this here: https://maxhalford.github.io/blog/dbt-ref-rant/ - I don't like the idea each .sql file has to have an associated .yml file. It feels better to have everything in one place. For instance, with lea you can add a @UNIQUE tag as an SQL com…

Thanks for the answer! Congrats! I never went very deep on DBT but I can't help but think: "2022: DBT raises at a $4.2b valuation // 2023: Hi there! I built a dbt lite during the weekend because I was frustrated with ref('source')" and it does the job for us! Hard to understand the defensibility and valuation