Choose a developer path
Start from the migration job you're running or the Airlift integration surface you need to implement.
Airlift moves an estate to Databricks as one governed job.
Connect → Inventory → Scope → Build → Move → Prove → Go-live
↘ Fixes (residue / discrepancies) ↗Start from where you sit in that job rather than reading the documentation front to back.
Run or follow a migration
Most readers should start in the App and only drop to developer surfaces when a stage needs an adapter or integration:
| You are | Start here | What you will do |
|---|---|---|
| a migrator running the job | App walkthroughs | follow one migration from engagement setup through cutover, stage by stage |
| setting up your first engagement | Engagements | create the engagement, bind a connection, run guided setup |
| a migration lead or approver | Guided migration journey | see what each gate requires, who acts next, and what evidence clears it |
| an auditor or sponsor | Parity certificates | verify what a signed certificate claims and export evidence |
Implement an integration surface
When a stage needs code from your project, start with the component you're implementing:
| You are building | Start here | What you will implement |
|---|---|---|
| a source migration integration | Source developer workflow | source plan, Lakebridge route, transfer, validation, and governed action calls |
| an assessment adapter | Run the assessment | workspace-job submission and immutable output admission |
| a conversion factory | Conversion factory | deterministic conversion, residue classification, and artifact recording |
| a transfer driver | Data transfer | checkpointed snapshot/incremental movement and reconciliation |
| a validation provider | Validation and readiness | admitted evidence records and profile-track observations |
| an Airlift deployment | Deployment | App, durable storage, jobs, Temporal, identity, secrets, and production checks |
| a cutover effector | Cutover and rollback | checkpoint, apply-once, independent verification, and recovery |
| CI or operator automation | Airlift CLI | source plans, diagnostics, contract snapshots, certificate verification |
Recommended implementation order
Build one complete, evidence-producing path before adding optional integrations:
- Generate and review the source profile and migration plan.
- Wire a live Lakebridge assessment and import the normalized inventory.
- Convert representative hard objects and retain immutable artifacts and residue.
- Implement one restartable transfer profile and independent validation runner.
- Resolve profile tracks, mint certificates, and rehearse a reversible wave.
Runway, Radar, and Tower add release, operations, and work-management evidence. They are optional integrations rather than prerequisites for assessment, conversion, validation, or certification. See family composition.
Trust & certificates
Whichever path you take, two reference pages define what the resulting evidence is worth:
- Parity and migration certificates: what a signed certificate claims, the evidence depth behind it, and how to verify it offline.
- Security model: the identity, tenancy, agent, and approval boundaries the whole migration job runs inside.