Overview

Explore 39 recipes across data modeling, calculations, analytics patterns, pre-aggregations, configuration, APIs, and AI.

Data Modeling

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="Cube style guide" icon="book" href="/recipes/data-modeling/style-guide"> Best practices and conventions for structuring your Cube data models. </Card> <Card title="Designing metrics" icon="chart-bar" href="/recipes/data-modeling/designing-metrics"> Compare entity-first and metrics-first ways to structure views for BI tools, apps, and agents. </Card> <Card title="Entity-Attribute-Value model" icon="table" href="/recipes/data-modeling/entity-attribute-value"> Shape sparse EAV warehouse tables into queryable dimensions and joins. </Card> <Card title="Using Cube with dbt" icon="cube" href="/recipes/data-modeling/dbt"> Layer Cube on dbt-built warehouse models, aligning documentation patterns with your semantic layer. </Card> <Card title="Dynamic data models" icon="schema" href="/recipes/data-modeling/using-dynamic-measures"> Generate measures programmatically from changing reference data. </Card> <Card title="Dynamic union tables" icon="stack-2" href="/recipes/data-modeling/dynamic-union-tables"> Combine multiple database tables that relate to the same entity into a single cube. </Card> <Card title="Custom ordering" icon="sort-ascending-shapes" href="/recipes/data-modeling/custom-order"> Define a custom sort order for categorical values like pipeline stages that don't sort alphabetically. </Card> </CardGroup>

Calculations & Metrics

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="Averages and percentiles" icon="percentage" href="/recipes/data-modeling/percentiles"> Model percentile-based metrics alongside averages for accurate representation of skewed distributions. </Card> <Card title="Nested aggregates" icon="layers-selected-bottom" href="/recipes/data-modeling/nested-aggregates"> Express aggregates-of-aggregates like a median of per-group sums using joined cubes and subquery dimensions. </Card> <Card title="Filtered aggregates" icon="filter" href="/recipes/data-modeling/filtered-aggregates"> Model cross-cube filters so measures aggregate facts while respecting dimensions from related cubes. </Card> <Card title="Share of total" icon="chart-pie" href="/recipes/data-modeling/share-of-total"> Compute each dimension member's contribution to the grand total or a fixed subtotal using multi-stage measures. </Card> <Card title="Period-over-period changes" icon="trending-up" href="/recipes/data-modeling/period-over-period"> Calculate week-over-week, month-over-month, and other changes over a fixed period. </Card> </CardGroup>

Query-time parameters

Most recipes model a metric with a fixed shape — a set interval, a set window. These recipes instead let the data consumer choose part of the calculation at query time, so one set of members serves many variations without a data-model change. To generate a family of members at model-build time instead (the consumer then picks by choosing which member to query), see Dynamic data models.

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="Configurable rolling windows" icon="adjustments-alt" href="/recipes/data-modeling/dynamic-rolling-windows"> Let consumers choose a measure's rolling-window and time-shift interval at query time, dispatching with a switch dimension. </Card> <Card title="Dynamic parameters" icon="adjustments-horizontal" href="/recipes/data-modeling/passing-dynamic-parameters-in-a-query"> Let consumers supply a filter value at query time and use it in a calculation without filtering the entire query. </Card> </CardGroup>

Time Series & Calendars

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="String time dimensions" icon="letter-a" href="/recipes/data-modeling/string-time-dimensions"> Work around non-timestamp time columns by casting strings to proper time dimension types. </Card> <Card title="Custom granularities" icon="clock" href="/recipes/data-modeling/custom-granularity"> Implement custom time dimension granularities like fiscal quarters or custom week definitions. </Card> <Card title="Custom calendars" icon="calendar" href="/recipes/data-modeling/custom-calendar"> Map fact tables to retail or fiscal calendars using dedicated calendar cubes and proxy dimensions. </Card> <Card title="Data snapshots" icon="camera" href="/recipes/data-modeling/snapshots"> Build point-in-time snapshots from change-history data to report status as of any date. </Card> </CardGroup>

User & Event Analytics

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="Active users (DAU, WAU, MAU)" icon="users" href="/recipes/data-modeling/active-users"> Measure customer engagement with daily, weekly, and monthly active user metrics. </Card> <Card title="Event analytics" icon="bolt" href="/recipes/data-modeling/event-analytics"> Turn raw clickstream events into session definitions and metrics for product analytics. </Card> <Card title="Retention analysis & cohorts" icon="rotate" href="/recipes/data-modeling/cohort-retention"> Implement cohort-based retention analysis to track user engagement over time. </Card> </CardGroup>

Pre-Aggregations

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="Non-additive measures" icon="square-root-2" href="/recipes/pre-aggregations/non-additivity"> Accelerate averages, distinct counts, and similar non-additive measures with pre-aggregations. </Card> <Card title="Incremental builds" icon="grid-dots" href="/recipes/pre-aggregations/incrementally-building-pre-aggregations-for-a-date-range"> Rebuild only the time-bounded partitions you need instead of refreshing entire rollups. </Card> <Card title="Disabling pre-aggregations" icon="toggle-left" href="/recipes/pre-aggregations/disabling-pre-aggregations"> Conditionally disable pre-aggregations based on environment or deployment context. </Card> <Card title="original_sql and rollups" icon="database" href="/recipes/pre-aggregations/using-originalsql-and-rollups-effectively"> Materialize expensive SQL once with original_sql, then reuse across rollup pre-aggregations. </Card> <Card title="Refreshing partitions" icon="refresh" href="/recipes/pre-aggregations/refreshing-select-partitions"> Partition-level refresh patterns for when dimension values change after initial load. </Card> <Card title="Multiple data sources" icon="topology-ring-2" href="/recipes/pre-aggregations/joining-multiple-data-sources"> Join data from different warehouses with cross-database rollup joins. </Card> <Card title="Mixed refresh cadences" icon="clock-cog" href="/recipes/pre-aggregations/mixed-refresh-cadences-rollup-join"> Combine a slow-changing fact rollup with a frequently-refreshed lookup rollup using a rollup join. </Card> </CardGroup>

Configuration

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="Environment variables" icon="key" href="/recipes/configuration/environment-variables"> Reference deployment secrets and tunables from environment variables in your config. </Card> <Card title="SSL connections" icon="lock" href="/recipes/configuration/using-ssl-connections-to-data-source"> Enable TLS to upstream databases with custom CA bundles and client certificates. </Card> <Card title="Optimizing data source usage" icon="brand-speedtest" href="/recipes/configuration/data-store-cost-saving-guide"> Reduce warehouse spend through pre-aggregation strategy and workload-aware settings. </Card> <Card title="Custom data source per tenant" icon="server" href="/recipes/configuration/multiple-sources-same-schema"> Route each tenant to its own database while reusing a single data model. </Card> <Card title="Custom data model per tenant" icon="file-code" href="/recipes/configuration/custom-data-model-per-tenant"> Give each tenant a unique data model, from completely different to partially shared schemas. </Card> </CardGroup>

APIs & Frontend

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="Unique values for a field" icon="list" href="/recipes/core-data-api/getting-unique-values-for-a-field"> Power filter dropdowns by querying distinct dimension values from Cube's data APIs. </Card> <Card title="Numeric values on the front-end" icon="hash" href="/recipes/core-data-api/cast-numerics"> Coerce REST (JSON) numeric strings into JavaScript numbers, with precision pitfalls and caveats. </Card> <Card title="Custom sorting" icon="sort-ascending-letters" href="/recipes/core-data-api/sorting"> Sort query result sets by custom criteria beyond default ordering. </Card> <Card title="Pagination" icon="book" href="/recipes/core-data-api/pagination"> Implement paged tables over Cube queries using limit, offset, and deterministic ordering. </Card> <Card title="Drilldowns" icon="menu-deep" href="/recipes/core-data-api/drilldowns"> Configure drill members and fetch detail rows behind an aggregate value. </Card> <Card title="Real-time data fetch" icon="wifi" href="/recipes/core-data-api/real-time-data-fetch"> Build live-updating dashboards using WebSocket transport and client subscriptions. </Card> </CardGroup>

AI

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="Agent-to-agent with Chat API" icon="topology-star" href="/recipes/ai/agent-to-agent"> Wrap the Cube Chat API as a LangChain tool so an orchestrating agent can query data on demand. </Card> </CardGroup>