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Copilot Best Practices and Limitations

Preview

This feature is currently available in a private preview and may not be accessible to all customers.

Validation and Review​

Always Review Generated Nodes before Deploying​

  • Check column mappings and transformations for accuracy.
  • Verify join conditions and relationships.
  • Ensure business logic aligns with requirements.
  • Test generated SQL syntax in your target platform.

Use Version Control Checkpoints for Safety​

  • Create a checkpoint before starting Copilot sessions.
  • Review all changes in version control before deployment.
  • Roll back easily if Copilot makes unwanted changes.

Validate Node Configurations​

  • Confirm Node Types match intended use, such as Dimension versus Fact.
  • Check that business keys are properly set.
  • Verify system columns are preserved.

Team Collaboration​

Share and Review with Your Team​

  • Share Copilot-generated Nodes for peer review.
  • Document business context that Copilot can't know.
  • Use Copilot for scaffolding, and the Coalesce UI for fine-tuning.

Track Improvements​

  • Measure time saved on repetitive tasks.
  • Monitor accuracy of generated transformations.
  • Identify patterns where Copilot excels or needs guidance.

Security and Data Governance​

Understand Copilot's Scope​

  • Copilot sees your Workspace metadata such as Node names, columns, and schemas.
  • Copilot doesn't have access to actual data in your tables.
  • Copilot respects your Workspace permissions and Storage Locations.

Avoid Sharing Sensitive Information in Prompts​

  • Don't paste proprietary business logic that should remain private.
  • Use generic examples when asking questions about patterns.

Continuous Improvement​

Provide Clear Instructions and Iterate​

  • If results aren't what you expected, rephrase your prompt.
  • Add more specificity or context.
  • Break requests into smaller steps.

Ask Questions to Learn​

  • "How should I structure slowly changing dimensions?"
  • "What's the difference between Persistent Stage and View for this use case?"
  • "Can you explain the join logic you created?"

Understand Copilot's Strengths and Limitations​

  • Best for creating Nodes, importing SQL, bulk operations, and standard patterns.
  • Not ideal for advanced Node configuration, Workspace-level settings, or direct data queries.

Limitations​

Workspace-Level Operations​

Copilot can't:

  • Create source Nodes.
  • Create or delete entire Subgraphs. It can only add or remove Nodes from existing Subgraphs.
  • Modify Workspace settings or configurations.
  • Manage Environments or deployments.

External Data Operations​

Copilot can't:

  • Query your data warehouse to preview actual data.
  • Create new Storage Locations or database connections.
  • Run actual data transformations. It only builds the DAG.

Advanced Customization​

Copilot can't:

  • Set advanced Node configuration options.
  • Create Custom Node Types.
  • Modify Package definitions or install new Packages.
  • Change Workspace-level templates or Macros.

Data Understanding Limits​

Copilot:

  • Knows your table schemas and metadata.
  • Doesn't know the actual data in your tables.
  • Can't automatically detect data quality issues without your description.
  • Can't recommend optimizations based on query performance.