Cubes

Overview

Cubes are the foundational building blocks of your semantic layer. Each cube represents a dataset (typically a database table or SQL query) and defines the measures (metrics) and dimensions (attributes) available for analysis.

Example

cubes:
  - name: orders
    sql_table: public.orders

    measures:
      - name: count
        type: count

      - name: total_revenue
        type: sum
        sql: amount

      - name: average_order_value
        type: number
        sql: "\{total_revenue\} / NULLIF(\{count\}, 0)"

    dimensions:
      - name: id
        type: number
        sql: id
        primary_key: true

      - name: status
        type: string
        sql: status

      - name: created_at
        type: time
        sql: created_at

    joins:
      - name: users
        relationship: many_to_one
        sql: "\{CUBE\}.user_id = \{users.id\}"

Core Properties

Property	Required	Description
`name`	Yes	Unique identifier in snake_case
`sql` or `sql_table`	Yes	Data source query or table
`measures`	No	Aggregations (count, sum, avg, etc.)
`dimensions`	No	Attributes for grouping/filtering
`joins`	No	Relationships to other cubes
`segments`	No	Predefined filters
`pre_aggregations`	No	Materialized query results

Data Source

sql_table (recommended)

For simple table references:

cubes:
  - name: orders
    sql_table: public.orders

sql

For complex queries:

cubes:
  - name: orders
    sql: >
      SELECT o.*, u.name as user_name
      FROM orders o
      LEFT JOIN users u ON o.user_id = u.id

Naming Conventions

Use snake_case for names
Use plural nouns: orders, users, products
Be descriptive: order_line_items not oli

File Organization

One cube per file in the bonnard/cubes/ directory:

bonnard/cubes/
├── orders.yaml
├── users.yaml
├── products.yaml
└── line_items.yaml

Best Practices

Define a primary key — required for joins and count_distinct
Start with basic measures — count, sum of key metrics
Add dimensions for common filters — status, dates, categories
Use joins sparingly — define on the "many" side
Document with descriptions — help consumers understand the data