# What is reports as code?

> Reports as code means keeping recurring reports as SQL and YAML in git, then validating, running and delivering them with a tool. What it is, and an example.

Reports as code means keeping each recurring report as plain-text files, SQL for the data and YAML for the layout and delivery, in version control. A tool validates, runs and delivers them. It is the same idea that infrastructure as code brought to servers and dbt brought to data transformation, applied to the reports people receive.

## The principles

### Plain text

A report is SQL for the data and YAML for the shape and the delivery. No GUI, no binary files.

### In git

Every change is a commit: reviewed in a pull request, with history, blame and a way back.

### Declared, not scripted

You say what the file looks like and where it goes; the tool does the work the same way for every report.

### Checked before it runs

The project is validated and its SQL compiled before anything reaches a database or an inbox.

### One definition, many environments

The same report runs against dev and prod, and for every client or region, by configuration.

### Run by automation

An orchestrator runs it on time; nobody has to remember to send it.

## An example

A monthly sales workbook with one tab per query, money formatted, emailed to finance. With DRE it is two files and one command.

reports/sales/sales.sql

```sql
select region, count(*) as orders, sum(amount) as net
from {{ source('shop', 'orders') }}
where order_date between '{{ run.date.prev_month.start.date }}'
                     and '{{ run.date.prev_month.end.date }}'
group by region
order by net desc
```

reports/sales/sales.yml

```yaml
queries:
  - {query: sales, tab_name: By region}
output:
  format: xlsx
  columns:
    net: {format: "#,##0.00"}
  destination:
    profile: mail
    to: finance@example.com
    subject: "Sales {{ run.date.prev_month.start.date }}"
```

terminal

```bash
dre validate -s sales   # check it, and see where the file will go
dre run sales           # build the workbook and send it
```

## Why teams move to it

-   A wrong number can be traced to the commit that changed it
-   New reports copy a reviewed pattern instead of starting from a blank script
-   Anyone who reads SQL can review a report change
-   Coding agents can write and change reports, because everything is text

[Try it with DRE →](https://getdre.com/docs/getting-started/)[DRE and dbt](https://getdre.com/dbt/)[Compare with other approaches](https://getdre.com/compare/)