Glossary

Quick definitions for the terms used across the Recce docs. Where a concept has its own page, the entry links there.

Recce concepts

Recce Cloud. The managed version of Recce. Connects to a Git repository and warehouse, runs validation automatically on every pull request, and posts a summary to the PR. See Cloud vs Open Source.

Recce OSS. The open source CLI you run locally against a dbt project. Same validation engine as Cloud, manual orchestration. See OSS Setup.

Recce interface. The web UI Recce serves (locally via recce server, in the cloud via the Cloud app) for browsing lineage, code, and data diffs. Sometimes called "Recce" alone in conversational context.

Data Review Agent. What Recce is. An agent that performs validation on dbt data changes the way a code review agent reviews code: examines the diff, runs checks, summarizes findings.

Validation. Running checks that confirm a data change is correct and intended. Recce's primary verb. Use in place of "testing" when describing what Recce does.

Validation check. A single comparison between base and current data (a row count diff, a value diff, a query) that returns a result the reviewer can approve.

Preset check. A validation check defined in recce.yml so it runs automatically on every PR for the project. See Preset Checks.

Checklist. The collection of validation checks saved against a PR. Travels with the PR as proof-of-correctness. See Checklist.

State file. The on-disk file that holds the checklist, run history, and validation results for a Recce session. Format reference: State File.

Recce instance. A running Recce server (local recce server or a Cloud session) that holds a single state file.

Validation comparisons

Base. The reference side of the comparison. Usually the production warehouse, or whatever the team treats as the source of truth for the PR.

Current. The PR's side of the comparison. Usually a per-PR schema in the warehouse with the PR's models built into it.

Lineage diff. Visualization of which dbt models were added, modified, or removed between base and current. See Lineage Diff.

Code change. The SQL and config diff for a single modified model. See Code Change.

Column-level lineage. A lineage view that traces relationships at the column level, not just the model level. See Column-Level Lineage.

Impact radius. The set of downstream models and columns affected by a change. See Impact Radius.

Breaking change analysis. Automated categorization of a modified model as breaking, non-breaking, or partial breaking. See Breaking Change Analysis.

Row count diff. Compares the number of rows in a model between base and current. Fastest sanity check.

Profile diff. Column-level statistical comparison (min, max, distinct, null counts) between base and current.

Value diff. Row-by-row comparison of values for a primary-key join between base and current.

Top-K diff. Comparison of the most frequent values in a categorical column.

Histogram diff. Comparison of the distribution of a numeric column.

Query diff. A custom SQL query run against both base and current with results compared. The full data-diffing toolkit lives on the Data Diffing page.

dbt and warehouse terms

dbt. The data transformation tool Recce wraps validation around. Always lowercased.

dbt model. A SQL transformation defined in a dbt project. The unit of change Recce validates.

dbt target. The named warehouse connection defined in profiles.yml (for example dev or prod). Recce uses two targets per PR: one for base, one for current.

dbt artifacts. The manifest.json and catalog.json files dbt produces. Recce reads them to understand the model graph and column types.

Data warehouse. Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift, or another analytical warehouse. Where Recce queries actually run.

Warehouse connection. Credentials and configuration that point Recce at a specific warehouse. Configured via dbt's profiles.yml.

Development stage. The phase of work a change is in (development, review, release). Use this in place of "environment" when "environment" might be misread as "warehouse".

Release. Making data changes live in the production warehouse. Use in place of "deploy" when talking about data changes (deploy is reserved for infrastructure).

Workflow roles

Data developer. The author of a dbt PR. Runs Recce locally or watches Cloud-generated validation results. Reviewer workflow: Data Developer.

Data reviewer. The teammate who reviews the PR. Walks the Recce checklist, approves checks, leaves comments. Reviewer workflow: Data Reviewer.

Admin. The person who connects Recce Cloud to the repo and warehouse and manages organization access. Setup guide: Admin Setup.

Automation

CI (continuous integration). Recce's per-PR automation: runs preset checks when a PR opens or updates and posts the result. Setup: Setup CI.

CD (continuous delivery). Recce's post-merge automation: refreshes the base state after merges so the next PR has an up-to-date reference. Setup: Setup CD.

MCP server. Recce's Model Context Protocol server, used by AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf) to call Recce tools through natural language. Setup: MCP Server.