checking-freshness

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Quick data freshness check. Use when the user asks if data is up to date, when a table was last updated, if data is stale, or needs to verify data currency before using it.

2installs

Sourceastronomer/agents

Added on2026-02-04

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add astronomer/agents checking-freshness

SKILL.md Content

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Data Freshness Check

Quickly determine if data is fresh enough to use.

Freshness Check Process

For each table to check:

1. Find the Timestamp Column

Look for columns that indicate when data was loaded or updated:

```
_loaded_at
```
,
```
_updated_at
```
,
```
_created_at
```
(common ETL patterns)
```
updated_at
```
,
```
created_at
```
,
```
modified_at
```
(application timestamps)
```
load_date
```
,
```
etl_timestamp
```
,
```
ingestion_time
```
```
date
```
,
```
event_date
```
,
```
transaction_date
```
(business dates)

Query INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS if you need to see column names.

2. Query Last Update Time

sql

SELECT
    MAX(<timestamp_column>) as last_update,
    CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() as current_time,
    TIMESTAMPDIFF('hour', MAX(<timestamp_column>), CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()) as hours_ago,
    TIMESTAMPDIFF('minute', MAX(<timestamp_column>), CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()) as minutes_ago
FROM <table>

3. Check Row Counts by Time

For tables with regular updates, check recent activity:

sql

SELECT
    DATE_TRUNC('day', <timestamp_column>) as day,
    COUNT(*) as row_count
FROM <table>
WHERE <timestamp_column> >= DATEADD('day', -7, CURRENT_DATE())
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1 DESC

Freshness Status

Report status using this scale:

Status	Age	Meaning
Fresh	< 4 hours	Data is current
Stale	4-24 hours	May be outdated, check if expected
Very Stale	> 24 hours	Likely a problem unless batch job
Unknown	No timestamp	Can't determine freshness

If Data is Stale

Check Airflow for the source pipeline:

Find the DAG: Which DAG populates this table? Use
```
list_dags
```
and look for matching names.
Check DAG status:
- Is the DAG paused? Use
```
get_dag_details
```
- Did the last run fail? Use
```
get_dag_stats
```
- Is a run currently in progress?
Diagnose if needed: If the DAG failed, use the debugging-dags skill to investigate.

Output Format

Provide a clear, scannable report:

FRESHNESS REPORT
================

TABLE: database.schema.table_name
Last Update: 2024-01-15 14:32:00 UTC
Age: 2 hours 15 minutes
Status: Fresh

TABLE: database.schema.other_table
Last Update: 2024-01-14 03:00:00 UTC
Age: 37 hours
Status: Very Stale
Source DAG: daily_etl_pipeline (FAILED)
Action: Investigate with **debugging-dags** skill

Quick Checks

If user just wants a yes/no answer:

"Is X fresh?" -> Check and respond with status + one line
"Can I use X for my 9am meeting?" -> Check and give clear yes/no with context