optimizing-databricks-sql

# Databricks Optimize (DBSQL) A Databricks/Delta-platform **overlay**, not a standalone optimizer. The generic rewrite/analyze/verify pipeline (Steps 1, 5, 6) is the same pipeline altimate-code's native `query-optimize` skill runs — same tool calls, same composition. This skill's only job is the part `query-optimize` structurally can't do: detecting Databricks/Delta platform-specific issues (Z-ordering, table statistics, Photon UDF blocking) that need table metadata and Databricks docs knowledge, not just query text, and folding those findings in alongside the generic ones. If `query-optimize` is installed in the current environment, prefer invoking it for Steps 1/5/6 and layer Steps 2–4's Databricks-specific findings on top of its output, the same way `sql-review` defers to sibling skills instead of duplicating them. If it isn't available (e.g. this skill is running standalone, outside altimate-code), fall back to calling the same tools directly as described below — the tool calls are identical either way, so behavior doesn't change based on which path ran. No rewrite is reported as "optimized" until it clears the validation gate in Step 7 — that gate is a hard requirement, not a suggestion. ## When to use this skill **Use when:** - The query is DBSQL (standalone or embedded in a notebook cell) and the question involves Databricks/Delta-specific behavior: Z-ordering, liquid clustering, table statistics, Photon, Unity Catalog, Predictive Optimization. **Do NOT use...