Update Check — ONCE PER SESSION (mandatory) The first time this skill is used in a session, run the check-updates skill before proceeding.

• GitHub Copilot CLI / VS Code: invoke the

  check-updates

  skill.
• Claude Code / Cowork / Cursor / Windsurf / Codex: compare local vs remote package.json version.
• Skip if the check was already performed earlier in this session.

CRITICAL NOTES

1. To find the workspace details (including its ID) from workspace name: list all workspaces and, then, use JMESPath filtering
2. To find the item details (including its ID) from workspace ID, item type, and item name: list all items of that type in that workspace and, then, use JMESPath filtering

sqlcmd

winget install sqlcmd

brew install sqlcmd

apt-get install sqlcmd

az

az login

jq

az rest

Agent check — verify before first operation:

bash

sqlcmd --version 2>/dev/null || echo "INSTALL: winget install sqlcmd OR brew install sqlcmd"

1. Discover → Run steps 1–4 to understand available tables/columns.
2. Sample →

   SELECT TOP 5

   on relevant tables.
3. Formulate → Select pattern from SQLDW-AUTHORING-CORE.md (Table DDL through Common Authoring Patterns).
4. Execute →

   $SQLCMD -Q "..."

   or

   $SQLCMD -i file.sql

   for multi-statement.
5. Verify → Query affected table (

   SELECT COUNT(*)

   ,

   SELECT TOP 5

   ).
6. Optionally script → Generate reusable

   .sh

   or

   .ps1

   using references/authoring-script-templates.md.

• Verify workspace has capacity before creating warehouse — call

  GET /v1/workspaces/{id}

  and check

  capacityId

  .
• Always

  -d <DatabaseName>

  — FQDN alone is insufficient.
• Always

  -G

  or

  --authentication-method

  — SQL auth not supported on Fabric.

• az login

  first —

  ActiveDirectoryDefault

  uses az session. No session → cryptic failure.

• SET NOCOUNT ON;

  in scripts — suppresses row-count messages that corrupt output.
• Use

  -i file.sql

  for multi-statement batches (CREATE PROCEDURE, transactions with GO separators).
• Label authoring queries with

  OPTION (LABEL = 'ETL_description')

  .
• Use explicit

  CAST()

  in CTAS to control output types.
• Keep transactions short — long transactions increase conflict window.

• ODBC sqlcmd (

  /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd

  ) — requires ODBC driver. Use Go version.
• Omitting

  -W

  in scripts — trailing spaces corrupt CSV.
• Singleton

  INSERT ... VALUES

  at scale — creates tiny Parquet files. Use INSERT...SELECT, CTAS, or COPY INTO.

• DROP TABLE IF EXISTS

  +

  CREATE TABLE

  to refresh — loses time-travel history. Use

  TRUNCATE TABLE

  +

  INSERT INTO

  .
• MERGE in production — preview, table-level conflict detection. Use DELETE + INSERT.
• ALTER COLUMN — not supported. Use CTAS workaround (Schema Evolution).
• Variables in CTAS — not allowed. Wrap in dynamic SQL:

  EXEC sp_executesql N'CREATE TABLE ...'

  .
• DML on Lakehouse/Mirrored DB SQLEP — read-only for table data. Only views/funcs/procs can be authored.
• Concurrent UPDATE/DELETE on same table — snapshot isolation conflicts at table level. Serialize writes.
• Hardcoded FQDNs — discover via REST API (Connection section).
• MARS — not supported. Remove

  MultipleActiveResultSets

  from connection strings.

• CTAS over

  CREATE TABLE

  +

  INSERT

  — parallel, single-operation.

• INSERT ... SELECT

  over singleton INSERTs.

• COPY INTO

  for external file ingestion — highest throughput.
• DELETE + INSERT over MERGE for upserts in production.

• TRUNCATE TABLE

  over

  DELETE FROM

  without WHERE — faster, preserves history.

• -i file.sql

  over

  -Q "..."

  for anything beyond simple one-liners.
• Piped here-doc for multi-statement batches without GO requirements.
• CTAS + sp_rename for large-scale transforms instead of UPDATE.

• sqlcmd (Go) -G

  over curl+token for SQL queries.

• -Q

  (non-interactive exit) for agentic use.

• -F vertical

  for exploration of wide tables.
• Env vars (

  FABRIC_SERVER

  ,

  FABRIC_DB

  ) for script reuse.