Config-Driven Data Engineering in Microsoft Fabric

Description

Data-engineering often results in hundreds of one-offs with duplicate code and inconsistency, making change slow, brittle, and costly. We will introduce and demo new metadata and config-driven patterns for PySpark integration in Fabric. You will learn to implement reusable patterns that simplify development, scale reliably, cut duplication, and improve governance across Fabric environments.

Key Takeaways

• A developer can always just write a notebook cell
• Key Generation &
• Dependent threads wait. Always in the
• Surrogate Key Generation
• Hash -based surrogate keys from business key columns.
• Keys are always non
• -null. Always consistent.

My Notes

Action Items

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Resources & Links

Slides

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ATLANTA
MARCH 16

• 20, 2026
  Config
  -driven Data Engineering
  in Microsoft Fabric
  Pierre LaFromboise
  Chief Data Officer
  Covenant Technology Partners
  25+ years implementing Microsoft data solutions
  Organizations of all sizes · Every industry
  A Familiar Journey
  Notebooks + Lakehouse
  Full PySpark
  flexibility
  Natural next step from Dataflows
  Dataflows + Warehouse
  Steeper learning curve
  Power BI -familiar, low -code
  Great starting point
  Gaps in transformation capabilities
  Medallion -native
  pivot
  Delta Lake out of box
  Discipline required to scale
  SQL -familiar, approachable
  Rigid for bronze / silver layers
  Ecosystem still maturing
  It Starts Well
  The first notebook works.
  The second notebook works.
  The thirtieth notebook is…
  complicated.
  The Abstraction Treadmill
  Copy -Paste
  Templates
  Shared
  Snippets
  Helper
  Modules
  Five Problems, One Root Cause
  No Repeatable Structure
  Copy -Paste Proliferation
  Brittle Orchestration
  Opaque Execution
  Environment Drift
  Notebooks have no contract.
  There is no enforceable agreement between what
  was intended and what was built.
  The Structural Problem
  PySpark
  is pro -code by design.
  Any governance layer is optional.
  A developer can always just write a notebook cell
  .
  You cannot enforce a standard you cannot intercept.
  This isn’t a people problem. It’s an architecture problem.
  What if the pipeline
  IS the config?
  Declare what you want.
  Let the engine handle how.
  weevr
  A configuration -driven execution framework for
  PySpark in Microsoft Fabric.
  Open source ·
  ardent -data.github.io/
  Apache 2.0
  Licensed · Production ready
  weevr
  The Core Promise
  Same config.
  Same inputs.
  Same outputs.
  Every time .
  The Configuration IS the Contract
  « The config is the specification
  Not a comment in a notebook.
  « The config is the standard.
  Not a wiki page.
  « The config is the audit trail.
  Not a convention.
  « The config is the truth.
  The config
  itself .
  The Object Model
  Loom
  Weave
  Thread
  Deployable unit
  Dependency graph
  over threads
  Smallest unit of work
  One or more weaves.
  Shared defaults.
  Typed parameters.
  One or more source
  → transforms
  → target
  Parallel execution.
  Automatic ordering.
  Configuration flows down. Most specific wins.
  Architectural Foundation
  Spark -native
  No new execution engine.
  runs on the Spark session you
  already have.
  No Code Generation
  weevr
  Configuration is interpreted at
  runtime. Nothing is generated,
  compiled, or stored between
  runs.
  Fabric & Delta Aligned
  Deterministic Execution
  Built for OneLake , lakehouses,
  and Delta tables. No abstraction
  leaks. No workarounds. No
  surprises.
  Same config plus same inputs
  equals same outputs. The
  engine is stateless. The behavior
  is guaranteed.
  What
  weevr
  Is Not
  X Not a replacement for Spark
  X Not opinionated about data modeling
  Spark is the execution engine.
  weevr is the
  configuration layer that sits on top of it.
  Kimball, Data Vault, wide tables
  — your modeling
  patterns are supported, not mandated.
  X Not a scheduler
  X Not trying to solve every Fabric problem
  Orchestration remains external
  — Fabric Pipelines,
  Airflow, whatever your team already uses.
  Deliberately scoped;
  PySpark , Fabric, Delta Lake.
  That’s the lane. It’s a wide lane, but it’s one lane.
  X Not a code generator
  Configuration is interpreted at runtime. No
  PySpark is generated, stored, or compiled from
  YAML.
  Features
  at a Glance
  Declarative YAML
  Pipelines
  DAG Orchestration
  Key Generation &
  Hashing
  Structured
  Telemetry &
  Observability
  19 Transform Types
  Incremental
  Loading
  Idempotent
  Outputs
  Validations &
  Assertions
  Each feature is a direct answer to a named problem.
  Declarative YAML Pipelines
  Problems addressed:
  No Repeatable Structure
  Copy -Paste Proliferatio n
  Define sources, transforms, and targets
  in YAML.
  One canonical definition per pipeline.
  Reviewable, diffable, version
  -controlled
  in Git.
  The config is the PR.
  19 Transform Types
  Problems addressed:
  No Repeatable Structure
  Copy -Paste Proliferatio n
  The full range of data engineering
  needs, declared in config
  — not coded
  from scratch.
  Every transform follows the
  same declarative pattern.
  No custom
  No drift .
  code.
  No variation.
  DAG Orchestration
  Problems addressed:
  Brittle Orchestration
  Dependencies inferred automatically
  from source and target relationships.
  Independent threads execute in
  parallel.
  Dependent threads wait. Always in the
  right order .
  Execution order is declared,
  not improvised.
  Incremental Loading
  Read only what’s changed.
  Not everything.
  Every
  time .
  Watermark tracking, CDC support, and incremental state
  management
  — declared in config, handled by the engine.
  You define the strategy.
  w eevr manages the state.
  Key Generation & Hashing
  Surrogate Key Generation
  Hash -based surrogate keys from business key columns.
  Eight hash algorithms: xxhash64, sha256, md5, and more.
  Null inputs replaced with deterministic
  sentinels.
  Keys are always non
  -null. Always consistent.
  Change Detection Hashing
  Row -level change detection without CDC.
  Hash a set of columns — if the hash changes, the row changed.
  Pairs naturally with merge write mode for SCD patterns .
  Idempotent Outputs
  Run it once. Run it ten times.
  The result is the same .
  Overwrite
  Append
  Merge
  Naturally idempotent.
  Target is fully
  replaced. Same data
  in, same data out.
  Pair with incremental
  load to prevent
  duplicate rows. Same
  window in, same rows
  out.
  Match keys ensure the
  same upsert result
  every time. Same
  source in, same target
  out.
  Determinism isn’t just a property of the config.
  It’s a guarantee
  of the output .
  Structured Telemetry & Observability
  Problems addressed:
  Opaque Execution
  OTel -compatible execution spans.
  Structured JSON logging at every milestone.
  Row counts, timing, and status per thread.
  Full trace hierarchy
  — loom → weave → thread.
  Route to Azure Monitor, Elasticsearch, Splunk
  — any JSON -capable log sink.
  No custom parsing required.
  When something goes wrong, you
  know exactly what happened,
  where, and what the data looked
  like.
  Validations & Assertions
  Pre -Write Validations
  Rules evaluated against
  DataFrame before a single row is written.
  Failing rows are quarantined
  — not dropped, not written, not silently lost.
  Severity levels: info · warn · error · fatal
  Post -Write Assertions
  Checks evaluated against the target after every successful write.
  Row count minimums, null checks, uniqueness constraints, custom expression.
  The contract is verified, not assumed.
  Same Pipeline. Two Ways.
  The difference isn't the length.
  It's what you
  must know to write it correctly.
  The YAML declares intent
  . The Python implements infrastructure
  None of the extra code has anything to do with your data.
  .
  Seeing is believing
  A basic pipeline from config
  Validations and
  3a
  Merge with soft delete and surrogate keys
  3b
  Incremental watermark
  A full pipeline weave
  A production
  quarantine
  loading
  — 5 threads, one DAG
  loom — inheritance, params, conditions
  Demo 1: The Basic Thread
  Problems addressed:
  No Repeatable Structure
  Copy -Paste Proliferatio n
  ctx.run ('stg_customers.thread
  ')
  The YAML file is the pipeline.
  Nothing else required .
  Demo 2: Validations & Quarantine
  Problems addressed:
  Opaque Execution
  ctx.run ('stg_customers_validated.thread
  ')
  Pre -write validation rules.
  Failing rows quarantined
  — not
  dropped, not written.
  Post -write assertions on the target .
  Quality is part of the contract.
  Demo 3a: Merge with Soft Delete
  Problems addressed:
  No Repeatable Structure
  ctx.run (dim_product.thread
  ')
  Merge write mode
  — update, insert,
  soft delete.xxhash64 surrogate key
  generation.Null
  -safe by default.
  Same config. Different inputs.
  Correct output.
  Demo 3b: Incremental Watermark
  Problems addressed:
  Brittle Orchestration
  ctx.run (fact_transactions.thread
  ')
  Watermark -based incremental
  loading.
  State persisted automatically
  configuration.
  Merge on transaction_id .
  — zero
  Run 1: full initial load
  Run 2: only new transactions processed
  Demo 4: Full Pipeline Weave
  Problems addressed:
  Brittle Orchestration
  Opaque Executio n
  ctx.run ('customer_pipeline.weave
  ')
  5 threads · Automatic DAG · Parallel
  execution
  Narrow lookups · Hooks · Quality
  gates
  The weave is the dependency
  contract.
  Demo 5: A Production Loom
  Problems addressed:
  Environment Drift
  ctx.run ('daily.loom ')
  Two weaves · Config inheritance ·
  Typed parameters
  Conditional execution · Environment
  agnostic

One config. Any environment.
The contract doesn't change.
Only the parameters do.
Declarative Pattern is the Answer
SQL has
PySpark
dbt .
on Fabric deserves the same.
dbt didn’t invent SQL transformation. It gave the
community a standard way to do it.
weevr is that bet for
config -driven PySpark .
Whether it wins depends on whether practitioners like you
decide it's worth building together.
Join the Community
①
②
③
Try it
Star it
Shape it
pip install weevr
ardent-data/weevr
20 -minute
quickstart
the ecosystem is ready
Full docs at
ardent -data.github.io/
Every star signals
weevr
Watch for releases
Apache 2.0 · Production ready
Open issues · Read the roadmap
GitHub Discussions
Share your thread patterns
Request transform types
Contribute to docs
Scan for docs.
Open a PR
Fabric Runtime 1.3
Pierre LaFromboise
CDO · Covenant Technology Partners
linkedin.com/in/pierrelafromboise
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