Surviving Commit Conflicts When Dozens of Writers Hit the Same Iceberg Table
Commit conflicts multiply with writer count, and AI agents introduce unpredictable write patterns.
The archive
Writing, page 15
652 posts on Apache Iceberg, lakehouse architecture, data engineering and applied AI.
The Jackson 3 Problem in Apache Iceberg, and What It Means for Your Code
Jackson 3 changes everything: package names, unchecked exceptions, flipped defaults. Here's what breaks, why the engines are fine and your service isn't.
Wiring an AI Agent to Apache Polaris with the Model Context Protocol
The catalog is the right attachment point for AI agents working against a lakehouse. Here's how to wire the official Polaris MCP Server and add the read.
Governing Iceberg Tables Across Regions Without Three Sets of Permissions
Catalog federation gives you one authorization model and one audit point across regions. Here's what it solves, what it doesn't, and how to build.
Federating Oracle With an Open Lakehouse Instead of Migrating It
Federate first so analytics work now, migrate what benefits from migrating, and leave the rest where it is indefinitely.
The Parquet Versioning Problem, and Why Iceberg Cares About It
Parquet files have a version field that doesn't reliably signal feature requirements. A new versioning discipline is coming, borrowing from Iceberg's.
Building Iceberg Pipelines in Python Without Standing Up Spark
A large share of production transformations fit comfortably on one machine. PyIceberg, DuckDB, and branch isolation give you a production path that debugs.
Governing What Agents Cost You
Agents break the four assumptions analytics platforms were built on. A practical guide to identity, budgets, semantic layers, caching, and instrumentation.
Every AI Model Family That Matters in Mid-2026
A full survey of the AI model landscape in mid-2026: frontier families, open-weight labs, local inference, specialists, and how to build a routing layer.
Freshness Is a Contract, Not a Note on a Dashboard
Data freshness needs to become an engineering contract with a measurable value, an owner, and consequences.