Running a subset of asset checks

In some cases, you may only want to execute some of the asset checks defined in a @dg.multi_asset or @dg.multi_asset_check. For example, you may want to materialize a @dg.multi_asset without executing the checks or only execute a certain set of checks.

In this guide, we'll show you a few approaches to subsetting asset checks in @dg.multi_asset_checks and @dg.multi_assets.

note

This article assumes familiarity with asset checks and multi-assets.

Subsetting checks in @multi_asset_checks

Using the @dg.multi_asset_check decorator's specs and can_subset arguments, you can execute a subset of checks in a single op.

Inside the body of the function, we can use AssetCheckExecutionContext.selected_asset_check_keys to identify which computations to run. We can also set the decorator's can_subset parameter to True to execute a subset of the asset checks that the computation contains.

As we don't know in advance which checks will be executed, we explicitly yield each asset check result that we're expected to create:

from collections.abc import Iterable

from dagster import (
    AssetCheckExecutionContext,
    AssetCheckKey,
    AssetCheckResult,
    AssetCheckSpec,
    AssetKey,
    multi_asset_check,
)


@multi_asset_check(
    specs=[
        AssetCheckSpec(name="asset_check_one", asset="asset_one"),
        AssetCheckSpec(name="asset_check_two", asset="asset_two"),
    ],
    can_subset=True,
)
def the_check(context: AssetCheckExecutionContext) -> Iterable[AssetCheckResult]:
    if (
        AssetCheckKey(AssetKey("asset_one"), "asset_check_one")
        in context.selected_asset_check_keys
    ):
        yield AssetCheckResult(
            passed=True, metadata={"foo": "bar"}, check_name="asset_check_one"
        )
    if (
        AssetCheckKey(AssetKey("asset_two"), "asset_check_two")
        in context.selected_asset_check_keys
    ):
        yield AssetCheckResult(
            passed=True, metadata={"foo": "bar"}, check_name="asset_check_two"
        )

Subsetting checks in @multi_assets

When using multi-assets, Dagster assumes that all checks specified on the asset should be executed after it is materialized. This means that attempting to execute some, but not all, of the checks defined by a multi-asset will result in an error.

In the following example, we only want to execute a check when the multi_asset_piece_1 asset produced by the multi_asset_1_and_2 multi-asset is materialized:

from dagster import (
    AssetCheckKey,
    AssetCheckResult,
    AssetCheckSpec,
    AssetExecutionContext,
    AssetKey,
    AssetSpec,
    MaterializeResult,
    multi_asset,
)


@multi_asset(
    specs=[
        AssetSpec("multi_asset_piece_1", group_name="asset_checks", skippable=True),
        AssetSpec("multi_asset_piece_2", group_name="asset_checks", skippable=True),
    ],
    check_specs=[AssetCheckSpec("my_check", asset="multi_asset_piece_1")],
    can_subset=True,
)
def multi_asset_1_and_2(context: AssetExecutionContext):
    if AssetKey("multi_asset_piece_1") in context.selected_asset_keys:
        yield MaterializeResult(asset_key="multi_asset_piece_1")
    # The check will only execute when multi_asset_piece_1 is materialized
    if (
        AssetCheckKey(AssetKey("multi_asset_piece_1"), "my_check")
        in context.selected_asset_check_keys
    ):
        yield AssetCheckResult(passed=True, metadata={"foo": "bar"})
    if AssetKey("multi_asset_piece_2") in context.selected_asset_keys:
        # No check on multi_asset_piece_2
        yield MaterializeResult(asset_key="multi_asset_piece_2")

Let's review what we did to accomplish this:

• In the @dg.multi_asset decorator:
  • For each AssetSpec in the decorator's specs argument, set the skippable parameter on AssetSpec to True. This allows the asset to be skipped when the multi-asset is materialized.
  • Set the decorator's can_subset parameter to True, allowing a subset of the computation's assets to be executed
• Use AssetExecutionContext.selected_asset_keys to identify which computations to run
• For each asset the multi-asset could create,] explicitly yield a MaterializeResult as we don't know in advance which assets will be executed
• Use AssetExecutionContext.selected_asset_check_keys to determine which asset check to run. In this example, the my_check check will only execute when multi_asset_piece_1 is materialized.

APIs in this guide

Name	Description
@dg.multi_asset_check	A decorator used to define a set of asset checks that execute together in the same op.
AssetCheckResult	The class returned by asset checks.
AssetCheckSeverity	Defines the severity of a given asset check result.
AssetCheckSpec	A class that's passed to asset decorators to define checks that execute in the same op as the asset.
@dg.multi_asset	A decorator used to define multi-assets.