Configure compilation behavior

Compilation settings control how PyRel validates your model and query before submitting a job to the RelationalAI Native App. This guide covers what compilation means in PyRel, the settings that affect it, and how to change those settings.

Before you start, make sure that:

• You have access to a Snowflake account with the RelationalAI Native App installed. If you are unsure, contact your Snowflake administrator.
• You have a working PyRel installation. See Set Up Your Environment for instructions.

What compilation configuration covers

This guide applies to the Build model and query step in the PyRel execution workflow:

When you run PyRel, it first compiles the model and query you wrote in Python. This includes your model definitions, any materialization requirements, and the query you want to run. During this step, PyRel translates that code into a form the backend can execute and can catch validation problems early, including type errors.

Use this table to choose which setting to change:

Setting	Use it when
Dry-run mode	You want to validate your model only without executing it.
Soft type errors	You want type errors treated more leniently while you iterate.

Enable or disable dry-run mode

Use dry-run mode when you want PyRel to only compile your model and/or query and not execute it. It is disabled by default.

Select the tab for your preferred configuration method to see how to set it up.

raiconfig.yaml

1. Set compiler.dry_run in raiconfig.yaml

   connections:
     # ...
   
   compiler:
       dry_run: true

2. Inspect the parsed config

   Note

   This check assumes your existing raiconfig.yaml already includes a valid connection configuration. If you define more than one connection, set default_connection so Model uses the intended config. See Configure Snowflake authentication for details on connection configuration.

   from relationalai.semantics import Model
   
   m = Model("MyModel")
   
   print(m.config.compiler.dry_run)

   A printed value of True confirms that PyRel loaded the dry_run setting from your config.

Programmatic

Set compiler.dry_run with CompilerConfig or a plain Python dict. These examples assume file discovery already provides a valid connection configuration. Use one of the following approaches:

1. Set the value with a typed config class

   from relationalai.config import CompilerConfig, create_config
   from relationalai.semantics import Model
   
   cfg = create_config(compiler=CompilerConfig(dry_run=True))
   m = Model("MyModel", config=cfg)
   
   print(m.config.compiler.dry_run)

2. Set the value with a dict

   from relationalai.config import create_config
   from relationalai.semantics import Model
   
   cfg = create_config(compiler={"dry_run": True})
   m = Model("MyModel", config=cfg)
   
   print(m.config.compiler.dry_run)

Related resources:

• Create configuration in code
• CompilerConfig API reference

Enable or disable soft type errors

Use soft type errors when you want PyRel to treat type errors more leniently while you iterate. It is disabled by default, so compilation will fail on type errors unless you turn it on.

Caution

Because PyRel stops enforcing type errors as failures, you can miss issues until later in your workflow. Use this setting intentionally as a way to iterate faster while building your model, but turn it off to catch type errors before deploying production workflows.

Select the tab for your preferred configuration method to see how to set it up.

raiconfig.yaml

1. Set compiler.soft_type_errors in raiconfig.yaml

   connections:
     # ...
   
   compiler:
     soft_type_errors: true

2. Inspect the parsed config

   Note

   This check assumes your existing raiconfig.yaml already includes a valid connection configuration. If you define more than one connection, set default_connection so Model uses the intended config. See Configure Snowflake authentication for details on connection configuration.

   from relationalai.semantics import Model
   
   m = Model("MyModel")
   
   print(m.config.compiler.soft_type_errors)

   A printed value of True confirms that PyRel loaded the soft_type_errors setting from your config.

Programmatic

Set compiler.soft_type_errors with CompilerConfig or a plain Python dict. These examples assume file discovery already provides a valid connection configuration. Use one of the following approaches:

1. Set the value with a typed config class

   from relationalai.config import CompilerConfig, create_config
   from relationalai.semantics import Model
   
   cfg = create_config(compiler=CompilerConfig(soft_type_errors=True))
   m = Model("MyModel", config=cfg)
   
   print(m.config.compiler.soft_type_errors)

2. Set the value with a dict

   from relationalai.config import create_config
   from relationalai.semantics import Model
   
   cfg = create_config(compiler={"soft_type_errors": True})
   m = Model("MyModel", config=cfg)
   
   print(m.config.compiler.soft_type_errors)

Related resources:

• Create configuration in code
• CompilerConfig API reference