Comparison Monitor

string · required

Displayed in the Monte Carlo UI and in incident notifications. Max 512 characters.

description: Verify staging and prod orders tables have matching row counts

object · required

Defines one side of the comparison — the table or SQL query, warehouse connection, and optional segmentation. The warehouse field inside source is always required; the top-level warehouse does not substitute for it.

source:
  warehouse: staging-snowflake
  table: staging:core.fct_orders
  where_condition: "status = 'ACTIVE'"

Properties

warehouse — warehouse for this side of the comparison

string · required

Warehouse UUID or name. Must be specified on each side independently — the top-level warehouse does not substitute for it.

warehouse: staging-snowflake

table — fully qualified table name

string · optional · one of table or sql required

Format: database:schema.table. Mutually exclusive with sql.

table: staging:core.fct_orders

sql — custom SQL query as the data source

string · optional · one of table or sql required

Custom SQL query. Mutually exclusive with table.

sql: "SELECT * FROM staging.core.fct_orders WHERE created_at > DATEADD(day, -7, CURRENT_DATE)"

transforms — AI-powered field transforms

array of objects · optional

Applied before metric computation. Same structure as metric monitor transforms.

transforms:
  - field: revenue
    expression: "amount_cents / 100.0"

where_condition — SQL WHERE filter

string · optional

SQL WHERE clause (without WHERE) to filter rows before comparison.

where_condition: "status = 'ACTIVE'"

segment_fields — columns to segment comparison by

array of strings · optional

Column names to segment the comparison by. Maximum 1 field.

segment_fields:
  - region

segment_sql — SQL expressions for segmentation

array of strings · optional

SQL expressions for segmentation when column names alone are insufficient. Maximum 1 expression.

segment_sql:
  - "DATE_TRUNC('month', created_at)"

connection_name — named connection override

string · optional

Named connection to use when executing queries on this side.

connection_name: staging-read-only

timeout — query execution timeout

integer · optional

Query execution timeout in seconds.

timeout: 300

object · required

Same structure as source. Defines the other side of the comparison. The warehouse field inside target is always required; the top-level warehouse does not substitute for it.

target:
  warehouse: prod-snowflake
  table: analytics:core.fct_orders

array of objects · required

Each entry defines which metric to compare and the threshold that triggers an alert. Supported alert condition types: comparison_delta, noop.

Available operators: GT · NOOP only. Other operators (LT, GTE, AUTO, etc.) are not supported.

Threshold type: comparison_delta alerts when the difference between source and target exceeds threshold_value. Set is_threshold_relative: true to treat threshold_value as a percentage difference rather than an absolute count.

alert_conditions:
  - metric: ROW_COUNT
    type: comparison_delta
    operator: GT
    threshold_value: 100

Properties

metric — built-in metric name

string · optional · one of metric or custom_metric required

Built-in metric name (e.g., ROW_COUNT, NULL_COUNT, NUMERIC_MEAN). Mutually exclusive with custom_metric. See Available Metrics.

metric: ROW_COUNT

custom_metric — custom SQL-based metric

object · optional · one of metric or custom_metric required

Custom SQL-based metric with separate expressions for source and target. Mutually exclusive with metric.

custom_metric:
  display_name: Total Revenue
  source_sql_expression: "SUM(amount_cents) / 100.0"
  target_sql_expression: "SUM(revenue_usd)"

source_field — column name on the source side

string · optional

Required when comparing field-level metrics and columns have different names on each side.

source_field: EMAIL_ADDR

target_field — column name on the target side

string · optional

Required when comparing field-level metrics and columns have different names on each side.

target_field: EMAIL

type — condition type

enum · optional · default: comparison_delta

Accepted values: comparison_delta · noop

Use noop to collect data without alerting.

type: comparison_delta

operator — comparison operator

enum · optional · default: GT

Accepted values: GT · NOOP

Only GT is supported for comparison_delta conditions.

operator: GT

threshold_value — maximum allowed delta

number · required, for comparison_delta conditions

Maximum allowed delta between source and target.

threshold_value: 100

is_threshold_relative — treat threshold as percentage

boolean · optional · default: false

When true, threshold_value is treated as a percentage (0-100) rather than an absolute value.

is_threshold_relative: true

object · optional · default: system-managed schedule

Controls when the monitor runs. Supported modes: fixed, dynamic, manual. Crontab (interval_crontab) is supported. Omitting schedule means Monte Carlo runs the monitor on the default collection cycle.

schedule:
  type: fixed
  interval_minutes: 1440

Properties

type — schedule type

enum · optional · default: fixed

Accepted values: fixed · dynamic · manual

type: fixed

interval_minutes — run interval

integer · optional

Run interval for fixed schedules.

interval_minutes: 1440

interval_crontab — crontab expressions

array of strings · optional

Crontab expressions for scheduling.

interval_crontab:
  - "0 6 * * *"

interval_crontab_day_operator — crontab day combination

enum · optional

Accepted values: AND · OR

How to combine day-of-week and day-of-month in crontab.

interval_crontab_day_operator: AND

start_time — schedule start time

string · optional

ISO 8601 format.

start_time: "2024-01-01T06:00:00Z"

timezone — schedule timezone

string · optional

timezone: America/New_York

dynamic_schedule_tables — tables that trigger the monitor

array of strings · required, when type is dynamic (unless dynamic_schedule_jobs is set)

Tables whose update events trigger this monitor.

dynamic_schedule_tables:
  - analytics:core.fct_orders

dynamic_schedule_jobs — jobs that trigger the monitor

array of objects · optional

dynamic_schedule_jobs:
  - job_type: DbtJob
    job_name: nightly_build
    project_name: analytics

min_interval_minutes — minimum interval between dynamic runs

integer · optional

Minimum interval between runs for dynamic schedules.

min_interval_minutes: 60

array of strings (exactly one entry) · required when creating a monitor

Required on all accounts, regardless of when the account was created. Monitors that already exist without a domain can still be updated without adding one.

Set default_domain in montecarlo.yml to avoid repeating it on every monitor.

domains:
  - my-domain

string · required

Required for monitors created after Jan 29, 2024 (existing monitors keep working). Changing the name creates a new monitor and deletes the old one — incident history does not transfer.

name: orders_row_count_parity

string · optional

Warehouse UUID or name. Does not substitute for warehouse inside source and target — those are always required. Overrides default_resource from montecarlo.yml.

warehouse: my-snowflake

string · optional

Visible in the Monte Carlo UI. Not included in notifications.

notes: Migration parity check. Reviewed weekly during cutover.

boolean · optional

Notify when the monitor query itself fails.

notify_run_failure: true

array of strings or mappings · optional

Audience names linking this monitor to channels defined in Notifications as Code.

An entry can instead be a mapping that narrows an audience to specific triage priorities, so it is only notified about alerts scored at those priorities. Some audience must cover NOT_TRIAGED. See Routing alerts by triage priority.

audiences:
  - migration-alerts
  - data-engineering
  - audience: oncall
    triage_priority: [HIGH]

array of strings · optional

Separate audiences for run-failure notifications. Falls back to audiences if not set.

failure_audiences:
  - oncall-alerts

object · optional · default: no grouping (a new alert is created every time the monitor breaches)

Groups subsequent breaches into the currently open alert rather than creating a new one, while the alert remains open and unresolved.

mode
Accepted values: group_into_open_alert

alert_grouping:
  mode: group_into_open_alert

enum · optional

Accepted values: P1 · P2 · P3 · P4 · P5

priority: P2

array of objects · optional

tags:
  - name: team
    value: analytics
  - name: environment
    value: production

enum · optional

Accepted values: ACCURACY · COMPLETENESS · CONSISTENCY · TIMELINESS · UNIQUENESS · VALIDITY

data_quality_dimension: CONSISTENCY

boolean · optional · default: false

Creates the monitor in a paused state. Omitting this on a later update resets to false (active) due to PUT semantics — always include it if you want the monitor to stay in draft.

is_draft: true

string · optional

Include the UUID of an existing monitor to update it instead of creating a new one.

uuid: 0dae7702-0950-45c7-909c-7e183bddca19

boolean · optional

Force auto-triage on (true) or off (false) for this monitor, overriding the account or domain default. Omit to inherit. See the Triage Agent.

auto_triage: false