What's a dependency?

A dependency is a relationship between assets. Asset dependencies can be:

Downstream, which means an asset is dependent on another asset
Upstream, which means an asset is depended on by another asset

To demonstrate, let’s take a look at a portion of the cookie pipeline.

In this example, flour, cookie dough, and cookies are our assets. Let’s break down what’s happening here: To make cookie dough, flour is required. Therefore, cookie dough is downstream - or dependent on - flour. To make cookies, cookie dough is required. Therefore, cookie dough is upstream - or cookies is dependent on - cookie dough.
Another way to describe dependencies uses the terms parent, child(ren), and ancestor(s). Let’s take another look at the cookie pipeline to demonstrate how these terms are applied. As these terms are relative to the individual asset, we’ll apply these terms from the perspective of the cookies asset. A child asset is downstream of its parent asset. In this example, cookies is a child of its parent asset, cookie dough. An ancestor is the parent of a parent asset. In this example, flour is the ancestor of cookies. This is because flour is the parent of cookie dough, which is the parent of cookies.

In this example, flour, cookie dough, and cookies are our assets. Let’s break down what’s happening here:

To make cookie dough, flour is required. Therefore, cookie dough is downstream - or dependent on - flour.
To make cookies, cookie dough is required. Therefore, cookie dough is upstream - or cookies is dependent on - cookie dough.

Cookie pipeline, labeled with different types of dependencies

Another way to describe dependencies uses the terms parent, child(ren), and ancestor(s). Let’s take another look at the cookie pipeline to demonstrate how these terms are applied. As these terms are relative to the individual asset, we’ll apply these terms from the perspective of the cookies asset.

A child asset is downstream of its parent asset. In this example, cookies is a child of its parent asset, cookie dough.
An ancestor is the parent of a parent asset. In this example, flour is the ancestor of cookies. This is because flour is the parent of cookie dough, which is the parent of cookies.

Cookie pipeline labels relative to the cookies asset