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Lifecycle

What happens to a Computed File after you save it, edit it, or delete it. This page covers the profile that fires on Create, the volumetric and freshness tracking you can turn on, how edits re-profile, how the History panel captures changes, and what a delete cascades to.

Basic Profile on Create

When a Computed File is saved for the first time, Qualytics runs two profiles back to back: a synchronous slim profile that samples up to 1000 records per partition so field-level statistics appear immediately, and a full asynchronous profile in the background. The full profile inherits its settings (record cap, AI effort, incremental bounds) from the prior substantial profile of the container when one exists; on first save it uses the safe defaults of ai_effort="off" and one million records per partition. The full profile shows up in the datastore's operations page as it progresses; you can also trigger additional profiles manually whenever you want a fresh run.

Volumetric and Freshness Tracking

Computed Files support the same volumetric (row-count) and freshness tracking that base file patterns do. When either is enabled, Qualytics samples the relevant metric on every profile so trend charts populate over time:

  • volumetric_tracking_enabled: records the row count on each profile.
  • freshness_tracking_enabled: records the newest timestamp on each profile using the container's freshness field.

Two automation toggles turn tracking history into standing anomaly detection:

  • automate_volumetric_checks: Qualytics creates a volumetric check that fires on unexpected row-count drops or spikes.
  • automate_freshness_checks: Qualytics creates a freshness check that fires when the container's freshness timestamp falls behind its usual cadence.

Enabling automation implicitly enables the corresponding tracking. Submitting automate_volumetric_checks: true while volumetric_tracking_enabled: false turns the tracking flag on for you, and the same cascade applies to freshness.

Editing Triggers a Profile

Saving an edit that changes any clause (select_clause, where_clause, group_by_clause, or lateral_views) kicks off validation and re-profiling right away. Qualytics runs a synchronous slim profile so field-level statistics refresh immediately, and follows up with a full asynchronous profile in the background. Metadata-only updates (Description, Owner, Additional Metadata) skip both profiles. Existing quality checks are preserved as long as the fields they target still appear in the new schema. If the edit drops a field that an active check depends on, Qualytics returns an explicit warning listing the affected checks and anomalies and asks you to confirm before proceeding. Anomalies raised against the older clauses stay in the anomaly history for auditability.

Query Diff

Every save produces a new version of the Computed File's clauses. The container's History panel lists these versions as a timeline. For each edited clause in a revision (select_clause, where_clause, or group_by_clause), a View Select Clause Changes, View Where Clause Changes, or View Group By Clause Changes action appears next to the change entry and opens a From/To dialog with two side-by-side labeled blocks showing the previous and new value, along with the user and timestamp for that change. Changes to lateral_views are recorded in the timeline but do not currently render a per-clause diff dialog.

Delete Cascades

Deleting a Computed File is a hard delete. When the delete succeeds, Qualytics removes the container together with its quality checks, anomalies, profile history, and scan history. There is no archive step and no undo.

The delete is blocked with 409 Conflict when quality checks in other containers reference this Computed File through a configured reference container. The following rule types can trigger the block:

  • existsIn
  • notExistsIn
  • dataDiff
  • aggregationComparison
  • isReplicaOf (sunsetting; use dataDiff for new checks)

The error response lists the specific quality-check IDs that block the delete. Delete or repoint those checks first, then retry.

Notifications

  • Editing a Computed File sends an in-app notification to the owner, unless the editor is also the owner.
  • Creating or deleting a Computed File does not emit an owner notification.

Team-level or datastore-level notification rules layered on top of this behavior apply as configured elsewhere in the platform.