datafactory-tips

name	datafactory-tips
description	Operational tips and best practices for working with Microsoft Fabric Data Factory MCP tools. Use when executing queries, troubleshooting timeouts, creating dataflows end-to-end, or working with large datasets via the DataFactory.MCP tools.

Data Factory Tips

Operational knowledge for working with Microsoft Fabric Data Factory.

Must / Prefer / Avoid

MUST DO

• Use executeOption = "ApplyChangesIfNeeded" on first refresh of API-created dataflows
• Re-add connections via add_connection_to_dataflow after save_dataflow_definition (save may wipe them)
• Use list_workspaces and filter by name — there is no find_workspace tool
• Validate each connection with execute_query after adding
• Create a new dataflow instead of reverting a multi-source one to single-source — there is no remove_connection tool

PREFER

• Filter early in M queries to enable query folding (push filters to source)
• Expensive operations (sorting, aggregation) last — streaming operations (filter, select) first
• execute_query with customMashupDocument to iterate on M code before saving
• Standard engine for complex transforms; Fast Copy only for simple ingestion

AVOID

• get_authoring_guidance — deprecated, author M directly
• Sorting early in query chains (requires reading all data before returning results)
• SELECT * equivalent without row limits during development — use "Keep First Rows" then remove

Symptom Triage