@Scout Does auto-materialization work with external assets? would a downstream asset be updated if an external upstream asset is updated?

Yes, auto-materialization can work with external assets. According to the documentation, fully-managed assets can depend on external assets. For example, if you have an

aggregated_logs

asset that depends on

processed_logs

, which is an external asset, the

aggregated_logs

asset can be defined with a dependency on

processed_logs

. However, since Dagster doesn't control scheduling or materializing external assets, it's up to you to keep their metadata updated. Materialization for external assets will be disabled in the Dagster UI, so you would need to use other approaches like REST API, sensors, Python API, or logging events using ops to report asset materializations. If an external upstream asset is updated, you would need to ensure that the metadata for that asset is updated in Dagster using one of the mentioned methods. Once Dagster is aware of the update to the external asset, it can trigger auto-materialization policies for downstream assets that depend on it, assuming those policies are configured to respond to such updates.

@Scout how to set partition_defs for external asset

In Dagster, external assets can be defined with partition definitions, similar to how you would define partitions for software-defined assets. However, the documentation does not provide a direct example of setting

partition_defs

for an external asset. Instead, it discusses the concept of external assets and how they can be used to represent and track assets that are not produced by Dagster ops. To define partitions for an external asset, you would typically use the

PartitionsDefinition

class or one of its subclasses to specify how the asset is partitioned. Here's a general approach based on how partitions are defined for software-defined assets: 1. Define your partition scheme using one of the

PartitionsDefinition

subclasses, such as

StaticPartitionsDefinition

,

DynamicPartitionsDefinition

, or a custom partition definition. 2. Use the

AssetSpec

class to define your external asset, including the partition definition in the asset specification. 3. Register the external asset with your Dagster repository using

external_assets_from_specs

or similar methods. Here's a hypothetical example of how you might define an external asset with daily partitions:

python from dagster import AssetSpec, DailyPartitionsDefinition, external_assets_from_specs  # Define the partition scheme for the external asset daily_partitions_def = DailyPartitionsDefinition(start_date="2023-01-01")  # Define the external asset with the partition scheme my_external_asset = AssetSpec(     key="my_external_asset",     description="An external asset partitioned daily.",     partitions_def=daily_partitions_def,     # Additional metadata can be included here )  # Register the external asset with the repository external_assets = external_assets_from_specs([my_external_asset])

Please note that this is a general example, and the actual implementation may vary based on the specific version of Dagster you are using and the details of your external asset. Always refer to the latest Dagster documentation for the most accurate and up-to-date guidance on working with external assets and partition definitions.

@Scout According to the API reference, the AssetSpec does not have a

partitions_def

attribute

I apologize for the confusion. You are correct that

AssetSpec

does not have a

partitions_def

attribute. In Dagster, the concept of partitions is typically applied to assets that are managed within the Dagster system. For external assets, which are not created or managed by Dagster ops, the partitioning information is not directly applied in the same way as it is for internal assets. Instead, you would track the metadata about partitions for an external asset outside of Dagster and then use sensors or other mechanisms to update Dagster about changes to those external assets, including information about their partitions. Dagster's asset catalog would then reflect the state of those external assets, including any partitioning metadata you provide. If you need to work with external assets that are partitioned, you would typically handle the partitioning logic outside of Dagster and then use Dagster's APIs to inform the asset catalog about the state of those assets. This might involve creating custom sensors or using the Python API to update asset metadata. For more specific guidance on how to handle partitioned external assets in Dagster, I recommend checking the latest documentation or reaching out to the Dagster community for best practices, as the handling of external assets may evolve over time.