Quick Start Guide¶

Get up and running with BuildCPG Labs in 10 minutes.

Prerequisites¶

Python 3.11+
Mac 11+ or Linux
Git
Basic terminal knowledge

Installation¶

1. Clone Repository¶

git clone https://github.com/narensham/buildcpg-labs.git
cd buildcpg-labs

2. Install Dependencies¶

pip install pyyaml duckdb pandas

3. Verify Setup¶

python config/paths.py
# Output: ✅ Lab1 config loaded: ...

Your First Lab Run¶

Setup Lab1 (One Time)¶

cd lab1_sales_performance
make setup
# Creates venv, installs dependencies, runs dbt debug

Run the Pipeline¶

make run
# Executes: dbt run

Inspect Your Data¶

make inspect
# Shows: schemas, tables, row counts, quality scores

Run Tests¶

make test
# Executes: dbt test

Create a New Lab¶

Bootstrap Lab2¶

cd ..
./setup_new_lab.sh lab2_forecast_model

Use Lab2 Immediately¶

cd lab2_forecast_model
make run

Common Commands¶

Working on Lab1¶

cd lab1_sales_performance

make setup      # Initialize lab (one time)
make run        # Run dbt pipeline
make test       # Run dbt tests
make inspect    # Check data quality
make clean      # Clean build artifacts
make docs       # Generate dbt documentation

Across All Labs¶

# Check all labs
ls -la | grep lab

# Status of each lab
cat config/labs_config.yaml

# Check paths
python config/paths.py

What Happened?¶

When you ran make setup in lab1:

Created venv - Isolated Python environment
Installed dependencies - From requirements.txt
Ran dbt debug - Verified dbt setup

When you ran make run:

Activated venv - Automatically (no need for source venv/bin/activate)
Changed to dbt directory - cd dbt
Ran dbt run - Executed transformation pipeline
Created/updated tables - In DuckDB database

When you ran make inspect:

Connected to database - lab1_sales_performance.duckdb
Listed all schemas - raw, raw_bronze, raw_gold, raw_silver
Showed table stats - Row counts, column counts
Calculated quality - Checked for nulls, duplicates

Next Steps¶

Read Lab Structure to understand directory layout
Read Shared vs Lab-Specific to understand how code is organized
Read Creating New Lab for detailed lab creation guide
Read Troubleshooting if you hit any issues

Troubleshooting¶

"command not found: make"¶

You need to install make. On Mac:

xcode-select --install

"venv not found"¶

Run make setup first to create the virtual environment.

"dbt: command not found"¶

Make sure you ran make setup to install dbt in the venv.

For more help, see Troubleshooting.