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Using altimate with Claude Code

altimate can work alongside Claude Code. While Claude Code handles general coding tasks, altimate provides specialized data engineering capabilities that Claude Code doesn't have.

How it works

Claude Code can invoke altimate as a tool when working on data projects. The /altimate command routes data engineering tasks to altimate's specialized tools.

# In Claude Code
/altimate analyze the cost of our Snowflake warehouse

This gives Claude Code access to: - SQL analysis and anti-pattern detection - Column-level lineage - Cost prediction and FinOps analysis - Schema inspection and PII detection - dbt manifest parsing and model scaffolding - Cross-dialect SQL translation

Example workflows

Code review with cost analysis

When Claude Code reviews a PR that includes SQL changes:

Claude Code: I see changes to models/marts/fct_revenue.sql. Let me check
             for data engineering concerns.

> /altimate analyze fct_revenue.sql for anti-patterns and estimate cost

altimate:
  sql_analyze: No anti-patterns detected ✓
  lineage_check: Sources stg_orders.amount, dim_products.category
  schema_diff: Added column revenue_category (low severity)

dbt project setup

You (in Claude Code): Set up a new dbt model for our customer metrics

Claude Code: I'll create the model structure. Let me use altimate
             to inspect the source tables first.

> /altimate inspect the raw.customers and raw.orders tables

altimate:
  schema_inspect raw.customers → 12 columns
  schema_inspect raw.orders → 8 columns
  lineage_check [draft SQL] → verified column mappings

Claude Code: Here's the staging model based on the actual schema...

FinOps during development

You (in Claude Code): This query is slow, can you optimize it?

Claude Code: Let me analyze it with altimate's SQL tools.

> /altimate analyze and optimize: SELECT * FROM events WHERE YEAR(event_date) = 2026

altimate:
  sql_analyze:
    ⚠ SELECT_STAR: Use explicit columns
    ⚠ FUNCTION_IN_FILTER: YEAR() prevents partition pruning
  sql_optimize:
    Optimized: explicit columns + range predicate
    Estimated improvement: 70-80% fewer bytes scanned

Setup

  1. Install altimate globally: npm install -g altimate-code
  2. Configure warehouse connections in your project
  3. Run /configure-claude inside altimate to set up the integration:
altimate
# then in the TUI:
/configure-claude

This creates ~/.claude/commands/altimate.md. You can now use /altimate in any Claude Code session.

When to use which

Task Use Claude Code Use altimate
Writing Python/JS code Yes No
SQL anti-pattern detection No Yes
Column-level lineage No Yes
Cost prediction No Yes
FinOps analysis No Yes
Schema inspection No Yes
dbt model scaffolding Partially Yes (better)
Cross-dialect translation No Yes
PII detection No Yes
General code review Yes Supplement with data checks
File editing Yes Yes (in builder mode)