Elementary CI

Automated data quality review for Pull Requests and Merge Requests.

When a developer opens or updates a PR/MR touching dbt models, this action:

1. Detects changed models via git diff
2. Queries the Elementary MCP server for test results, active incidents, and downstream lineage
3. Posts a summary comment to the PR/MR (updates it on reruns - no spam)

---

GitHub Actions

Quick start

# .github/workflows/elementary-review.yml
name: Elementary Data Quality Review

on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - "models/**/*.sql"
      - "models/**/*.yml"
      - "dbt_project.yml"

jobs:
  elementary-review:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0          # required for git diff across branches

      - uses: elementary-data/elementary-ci@v1
        with:
          anthropic-api-key: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}

Inputs

Input	Default	Description
anthropic-api-key	required	Anthropic API key for Claude
models-path	models/	Path to dbt models directory
diff-filter	ACM	git diff filter (A=added, C=copied, M=modified)
edr-version	latest	Pin to a specific elementary-data version
claude-model	claude-haiku-4-5-20251001	Claude model ID
mcp-config-path	.mcp.json	Path to MCP config file
base-ref	PR base branch	Branch to diff against

Required secrets

Secret	Description
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Anthropic API key
Warehouse credentials	Whatever edr needs to connect (e.g. SNOWFLAKE_PASSWORD)

GITHUB_TOKEN is provided automatically by GitHub Actions.

---

GitLab CI/CD Component

Quick start

# .gitlab-ci.yml
include:
  - component: gitlab.com/elementary-data/ci-components/mr-review@v1

That's it. Override inputs only if needed:

include:
  - component: gitlab.com/elementary-data/ci-components/mr-review@v1
    inputs:
      models_path: "dbt/models/"
      edr_version: "0.15.0"
      claude_model: "claude-sonnet-4-6"
      stage: "data-quality"

Inputs

Input	Default	Description
stage	test	Pipeline stage
models_path	models/	Path to dbt models directory
diff_filter	ACM	git diff filter
edr_version	latest	Pin to a specific elementary-data version
claude_model	claude-haiku-4-5-20251001	Claude model ID
mcp_config_path	.mcp.json	Path to MCP config file
allow_failure	true	Whether to block the MR on job failure

Required CI/CD variables

Set these in Settings > CI/CD > Variables (mark sensitive ones as masked):

Variable	Description
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Anthropic API key
GITLAB_API_TOKEN	Project/group token with api scope
Warehouse credentials	Whatever edr needs (e.g. SNOWFLAKE_PASSWORD)

---

MCP config

Both integrations require a .mcp.json file checked into your repo:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elementary": {
      "command": "edr",
      "args": ["run-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Adjust the command and args to match your edr version. Run edr --help to confirm the MCP subcommand name.

---

Model selection

The claude-model / claude_model input accepts any Anthropic model ID. See the Anthropic models documentation for available options.

Model	When to use
claude-haiku-4-5-20251001	Default - fast and cost-efficient for routine reviews
claude-sonnet-4-6	Richer analysis, better reasoning about complex lineage
claude-opus-4-6	Deep investigation on critical models