DAC

Appearance

Quickstart ​

Create and run your first DAC project with dac init.

DAC uses Bruin connections for query execution, so make sure both dac and bruin are installed and available on your PATH before starting.

1. Create a Project ​

shell
dac init my-dashboards
cd my-dashboards

The default starter creates a complete runnable project:

  • .bruin.yml with a read-only DuckDB connection named local_duckdb
  • data/dac-demo.duckdb for local testing
  • dashboards/sales.yml for a regular SQL dashboard
  • dashboards/semantic-sales.yml for a semantic dashboard
  • semantic/sales.yml for the semantic model
  • .claude/skills/create-dashboard/SKILL.md and .codex/skills/create-dashboard

The generated dashboards include inline sample data, so there is no separate seed step.

2. Validate the Project ​

shell
dac validate --dir .

Validation checks dashboard YAML, semantic model YAML, schema versions, semantic references, and dashboard structure before anything is served. When schema is omitted, DAC assumes v1.

3. Inspect a Widget Query ​

shell
dac query --dir . --dashboard "Semantic Sales" --widget "Revenue"

For semantic widgets, DAC compiles the semantic model reference into SQL in the backend before executing the query.

4. Check All Widgets ​

shell
dac check --dir .

dac check executes every query-backed widget and reports query failures before a viewer opens the dashboard.

5. Start the Server ​

shell
dac serve --dir . --open

The dashboard app will be available at http://localhost:8321.

6. Try Other Templates ​

dac init can also generate smaller starter projects:

shell
dac init sql-only --template sql
dac init semantic-yaml --template semantic
dac init semantic-tsx --template tsx

7. Existing Projects ​

If you already have a DAC project, install or refresh the bundled dashboard authoring skills with:

shell
dac skills install --dir .

Next Steps ​