On this page

• Test actions
  • Base fields
  • row_count
  • uniqueness
  • referential_integrity
  • completeness
  • range
  • schema_match
  • all_lookups_found
  • custom_sql
  • custom_expectations
  • Generated output

Test actions

Every test action sets type: test and a test_type. Choose a check for its example, options, defaults and shared action fields. Tests are validated and generated only with --include-tests. For a worked example, see Write a data test with a test action.

• Row counts (row_count)
• Unique keys (uniqueness)
• Referential integrity (referential_integrity)
• Required values (completeness)
• Value range (range)
• Schema comparison (schema_match)
• Lookup matches (all_lookups_found)
• SQL checks (custom_sql)
• Custom expectations (custom_expectations)

Base fields

Common to every test action, regardless of test_type.

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
name	string	Yes	—	Action name; unique within the flowgroup.
type	string	Yes	—	Must be test.
test_type	string	Yes	—	One of the nine supported test types. Any other value is rejected at validation.
target	string	No	tmp_test_<name>	Name of the generated temporary table.
description	string	No	Test: <test_type>	Table comment and function docstring.
depends_on	list[string]	No	—	Extra upstream table or view references added to the dependency graph. See Dependency analysis reference.
on_violation	string	No	fail	fail, warn, or drop; invalid values coerced to fail. Selects the decorator for the seven built-in types; for custom_sql / custom_expectations the decorator comes from each entry in expectations.
test_id	string	No	—	Correlates this test with a test-reporting hook.

Run lhp validate --env dev --include-tests and lhp generate --env dev --include-tests to include test actions. For result delivery, see Test reporting configuration.

A test action always reads its source with batch SQL. Point it at a table or a batch view: a streaming view fails on Databricks, and lhp validate reports it as LHP-VAL-070.

row_count

Row counts (row_count): syntax and options.

uniqueness

Unique keys (uniqueness): syntax and options.

referential_integrity

Referential integrity (referential_integrity): syntax and options.

completeness

Required values (completeness): syntax and options.

range

Value range (range): syntax and options.

schema_match

Schema comparison (schema_match): syntax and options.

all_lookups_found

Lookup matches (all_lookups_found): syntax and options.

custom_sql

SQL checks (custom_sql): syntax and options.

custom_expectations

Custom expectations (custom_expectations): syntax and options.

Generated output

Every test action generates a function decorated with @dp.table(name="<target>", comment="<description>", temporary=True) that returns the violation query, plus one expectation decorator per violation bucket. The on_violation value maps to the decorator as follows:

on_violation	Decorator	Behavior
fail	@dp.expect_all_or_fail	Pipeline update fails when any row violates.
warn	@dp.expect_all	Violations recorded as metrics; rows retained.
drop	@dp.expect_all_or_drop	Violating rows dropped from the output.

For the seven built-in types the action-level on_violation drives the decorator. For custom_sql and custom_expectations the decorators are built from each entry in expectations using that entry’s own on_violation.