autoload

name	autoload
description	Automatically infer schemas and load data from the incoming directory

AutoLoad Skill

Watches the incoming directory, automatically infers schemas for new data files, generates the corresponding YAML table definitions, and loads the data into the data warehouse. This is the quickest way to get data loaded: it combines schema inference and loading in a single step.

Usage

starlake autoload [options]

Options

• --domains <value>: Comma-separated list of domains to watch (default: all)
• --tables <value>: Comma-separated list of tables to watch (default: all)
• --clean: Overwrite existing mapping/schema files before starting
• --accessToken <value>: Access token for authentication (e.g. GCP)
• --scheduledDate <value>: Scheduled date for the job, format: yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ
• --options k1=v1,k2=v2: Substitution arguments passed to the watch job
• --reportFormat <value>: Report output format: console, json, or html

How It Works

1. Scans the incoming directory for new data files
2. Infers the schema from file contents (column names, types)
3. Generates _config.sl.yml and {table}.sl.yml files in metadata/load/
4. Loads the data into the data warehouse using the inferred schema

The incoming directory is defined in application.sl.yml or env.sl.yml:

# metadata/env.sl.yml
version: 1
env:
  incoming_path: "{{SL_ROOT}}/datasets/incoming"

Configuration Context

AutoLoad creates table definitions like the following in metadata/load/{domain}/:

# Auto-generated: metadata/load/starbake/_config.sl.yml
version: 1
load:
  name: "starbake"
  metadata:
    directory: "{{incoming_path}}/starbake"

# Auto-generated: metadata/load/starbake/orders.sl.yml
version: 1
table:
  name: "orders"
  pattern: "orders_.*.json"
  attributes:
    - name: "customer_id"
      type: "long"
    - name: "order_id"
      type: "long"
    - name: "status"
      type: "string"
    - name: "timestamp"
      type: "iso_date_time"
  metadata:
    format: "JSON_FLAT"
    encoding: "UTF-8"
    array: true
    writeStrategy:
      type: "APPEND"

Load Strategies

The loadStrategyClass in application.sl.yml controls how files are ordered for processing during autoload:

Standard Strategies

Strategy Class	Description	Ordering
ai.starlake.job.load.IngestionTimeStrategy	Load by file modification time	Oldest first
ai.starlake.job.load.IngestionNameStrategy	Load by lexicographical filename order	Alphabetical

Configuration:

# metadata/application.sl.yml
application:
  loadStrategyClass: "ai.starlake.job.load.IngestionNameStrategy"

Custom Load Strategy

Implement ai.starlake.job.load.LoadStrategy interface:

package com.mycompany.starlake

import ai.starlake.job.load.LoadStrategy
import ai.starlake.storage.StorageHandler
import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path
import java.time.LocalDateTime

object CustomLoadStrategy extends LoadStrategy with StrictLogging {
  def list(
    storageHandler: StorageHandler,
    path: Path,
    extension: String = "",
    since: LocalDateTime = LocalDateTime.MIN,
    recursive: Boolean
  ): List[FileInfo] = {
    // Custom file ordering logic
    ???
  }
}

application:
  loadStrategyClass: "com.mycompany.starlake.CustomLoadStrategy"

Examples

AutoLoad All Incoming Data

starlake autoload

AutoLoad Specific Domain

starlake autoload --domains starbake

AutoLoad Specific Tables

starlake autoload --domains starbake --tables orders,products

AutoLoad with Clean (Re-infer Schemas)

Overwrite existing schema files and re-infer from data:

starlake autoload --clean

AutoLoad with JSON Report

starlake autoload --reportFormat json

Related Skills

• load - Load data with pre-defined schemas
• infer-schema - Infer schema for a single file
• stage - Move files from landing to pending area
• config - Configuration reference