Bigquery Optimization
GoogleOfficialPublished by Google
- Skill
- Tool integration
- Cloud and DevOps
- Apache-2.0
- No issues found
AutoGineer summary
Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author
The bigquery-optimization skill provides a structured approach to improving the cost-efficiency and performance of Google BigQuery environments. It covers capacity planning for Editions, storage lifecycle and billing model management, table partitioning and clustering strategies, and SQL query refinement. The skill emphasizes manual configuration through the Cloud Console for financial changes while providing templates and guidance for technical optimizations like materialized views, search indexes, and BI Engine acceleration.
What it does
- Models cost-efficiency for BigQuery Editions and reservation rightsizing.
- Provides DDL templates for table partitioning, clustering, and storage lifecycle management.
- Guides the evaluation of physical vs. logical storage billing models.
- Offers strategies for implementing acceleration structures like materialized views and search indexes.
- Provides workflows for optimizing individual SQL queries to reduce slot-time and data read.
- Includes strict guardrails for regional scope and cost-framing terminology.
When to use it
- When you need to optimize BigQuery storage costs or evaluate billing model changes.
- When designing table schemas to improve query performance via partitioning and clustering.
- When migrating workloads between On-Demand and Editions.
- When troubleshooting high-cost queries or identifying opportunities for BI Engine acceleration.
- When managing data retention through TTL and partition expiration policies.
Advantages
- Standardizes optimization practices across capacity, storage, and query layers.
- Reduces manual research by providing clear decision frameworks for acceleration tools.
- Ensures safe operations by requiring manual execution for financial or resource-intensive changes.
- Promotes consistent regional scoping and attribution for all operations.
Usage examples
- “How can I optimize storage costs for my dataset in us-east1?”
- The agent will guide you through evaluating your storage billing model (logical vs. physical), checking compression ratios, and implementing lifecycle policies to expire old partitions.
- “My dashboard is slow; should I use BI Engine or a materialized view?”
- The agent will analyze your use case to recommend BI Engine for in-memory acceleration, materialized views for pre-aggregated data, or a combination of both.
- “Generate DDL to partition my large unpartitioned table by day.”
- The agent will provide the necessary CREATE TABLE or CTAS statements to migrate your data to a partitioned structure while enforcing partition filters.
Install
Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/google/bigquery-optimization/downloadUnzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:
mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip bigquery-optimization.zip -d .agents/skills
Documentation by Google
BigQuery Optimization Workflow
Attribution
MUST READ: Before executing any gcloud, REST API, or MCP command, you
MUST read Usage Attribution. For commands executed
directly in the terminal (never in generated scripts, Terraform, or user code),
prefix gcloud with
CLOUDSDK_METRICS_REQUEST_ATTRIBUTION="agent-skills/1.0 (skill:bigquery-optimization)"
and append agent-skills/1.0 (skill:bigquery-optimization) to User-Agent headers.
Prerequisites & Environment Setup
Before executing optimization analyses, evaluating editions, or applying DDL modifications:
Google Cloud SDK: Ensure the Google Cloud SDK is installed and configured.
Project Selection: Set the active Google Cloud project:
gcloud config set project {project_id}API Enablement: Ensure BigQuery and BigQuery Reservation APIs are enabled:
gcloud services enable \ bigquery.googleapis.com bigqueryreservation.googleapis.comAuthentication: Authenticate the environment:
CLI tools and
bqcommands:gcloud auth loginSDKs and automation:
gcloud auth application-default loginService accounts: Set
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="/path/to/key.json"
Billing & IAM Roles:
Verify an active Google Cloud Billing account is attached to
{project_id}.Ensure appropriate IAM roles:
roles/bigquery.adminorroles/bigquery.resourceAdmin: Reservation and capacity commitment management.roles/bigquery.dataEditororroles/bigquery.admin: Modifying table schemas, partitioning, clustering, and storage billing models.roles/bigquery.jobUser: Running evaluation queries.
Companion Skills Installation: This skill is part of a 3-pillar operations suite (
bigquery-observability,bigquery-optimization,bigquery-troubleshooting). If any companion skill is not yet installed in your environment, install the full suite:npx skills add google/skills --skill bigquery-observability --skill bigquery-optimization --skill bigquery-troubleshooting(If
bigquery-observabilityis not installed, use the self-contained baseline formulas and query templates provided directly in the reference sections below).
Workflows
Determine the optimization focus of the user's request and follow the relevant workflow:
Telemetry & Observability Baseline: For direct raw usage telemetry,
INFORMATION_SCHEMAqueries, and baseline metric calculations, consult bigquery-observability (bigquery_observability). If thebigquery-observabilitycompanion skill is not available in the active environment, all optimization guidelines, DDL templates, and decision models across this skill and its reference guides are fully self-contained.Capacity & Editions Modeling: Evaluate the cost-efficiency of migrating workloads from On-Demand to Editions, as well as rightsizing active Edition reservations, baseline commitments, and autoscaling caps.
Instructions: Read
references/capacity_planning_editions.mdto provide deep links to BigQuery's built-in recommendation UIs (e.g., Slot Estimator) and guide the user through UI navigation: 1. navigate to the Slot Estimator tab, 2. select 'On-Demand' as the source to analyze historical query volume, and 3. review the Cost-Optimized Recommendations and Slot Usage Chart.
Table & Storage Optimization: Optimize storage costs from a billing model, physical layout, and lifecycle perspective.
Billing Architecture: Read
references/storage_billing_models.mdfor guidance on evaluating aggregate compression ratios (e.g. >2:1 threshold in US) to recommend Physical vs. Logical billing, noting that the break-even ratio depends on specific regional rates and custom enterprise contracts. When providingTABLE_STORAGEqueries, always scope withWHERE table_schema = '{dataset_id}', use the regional dataset view, and warn that 0 rows indicates a region mismatch or lack of native tables rather than zero billable usage.Partitioning & Clustering Strategy: Read
references/table_partitioning_clustering.mdto generate production DDL templates (CREATE TABLE, CTAS migrations for unpartitioned tables, and modifying clustering specifications), enforce pruning withrequire_partition_filter = true, and manage partition limits (up to 10,000 partitions/table).Lifecycle Management: Read
references/storage_lifecycle_management.mdto pinpoint inactive data and define precise Time-to-Live (TTL) partition expirations, dataset expirations, and Time Travel window reductions.Acceleration Structures: Read
references/search_indexes.mdto decide when to propose a search index for selective lookups overSTRINGorJSONdata, write theCREATE SEARCH INDEXDDL, and tell the user how to verify index coverage and usage. Readreferences/materialized_views.mdto decide when to propose a materialized view for repeated aggregations or joins over large base tables, write theCREATE MATERIALIZED VIEWDDL, and tell the user how to verify that smart tuning uses it. Readreferences/bi_engine.mdto decide when to propose BI Engine vs. Materialized Views for BI dashboard acceleration, diagnosePARTIALorDISABLEDBI Engine fallback reasons (bi_engine_statistics), and combine BI Engine with materialized views that pre-join or pre-aggregate the data.
SQL Optimization: Optimize individual SQL queries to reduce slot-time and the amount of data read.
Instructions: Follow the instructions in
references/sql_optimization.mdto provide recommendations to the user on how to rewrite their SQL query to reduce slot-time and the amount of data read.
Execution Guardrails
Terminology & Cost Framing: Never promise or guarantee "cost-reduction" or "reducing expenditure." Always frame recommendations using the terminology "optimizing your bill" or "improving cost-efficiency."
Explicit Scope Framing & Region Resolution: Always state the target
project_idandregionat the very top of your response so the user immediately knows the exact scope being evaluated. Follow this 3-tier resolution hierarchy:Explicit Region: Use the region specified in the user's prompt (e.g.,
europe-west1).Contextual Region: Resolve the region from the specific dataset or resource mentioned in the context.
Unspecified Fallback: Default to
us/region-us, explicitly state thatuswas assumed as the default, and instruct the user to substitute their region if their resources reside elsewhere. Region Formatting: In Cloud Console deep links, use the region identifier directly (e.g.,region=us,region=europe-west1). In SQL queries againstINFORMATION_SCHEMA, use the regional dataset qualifier (e.g.,region-us,region-europe-west1).
Zero-Row Result Guard: If querying
TABLE_STORAGEwithWHERE table_schema = '{dataset_id}'returns 0 rows, do not proceed with an empty or zero-usage evaluation. Treat this as an indicator that the dataset may reside in a different region or have no native tables; stop and prompt the user to confirm the dataset's regional location.Populate Concrete Parameters: When generating URLs and SQL queries, always substitute known
project_idandregionvalues directly into the code and links. Never leave literal{project_id}or{location}placeholders for the user to manually edit.No Autonomous Purchasing or Financial Mutations: Never provide the user with executable scripts (e.g.,
gcloudorbqshell commands likebq update --storage_billing_model=...) designed to autonomously purchase annual commitments, alter edition tier bindings, or mutate storage billing models. Always guide the user to execute commitment purchases, reservation changes, and storage billing model updates manually via the Cloud Console UI.
Files
- ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer860 B
- LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer11.1 KiB
- SKILL.md9.3 KiB
- references/attribution.md1.9 KiB
- references/bi_engine.md7.3 KiB
- references/capacity_planning_editions.md7.0 KiB
- references/materialized_views.md4.9 KiB
- references/search_indexes.md4.1 KiB
- references/sql_optimization.md23.5 KiB
- references/storage_billing_models.md6.2 KiB
- references/storage_lifecycle_management.md2.2 KiB
- references/table_partitioning_clustering.md15.3 KiB
LICENSE
Apache License
Version 2.0, January 2004
http://www.apache.org/licenses/
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
1. Definitions.
"License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.
"Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
the copyright owner that is granting the License.
"Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
"control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
"You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
exercising permissions granted by this License.
"Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
including but not limited to software source code, documentation
source, and configuration files.
"Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
and conversions to other media types.
"Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
(an example is provided in the Appendix below).
"Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
the Work and Derivative Works thereof.
"Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."
"Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
subsequently incorporated within the Work.
2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.
3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
(except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
as of the date such litigation is filed.
4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
meet the following conditions:
(a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
Derivative Works a copy of this License; and
(b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
stating that You changed the files; and
(c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
the Derivative Works; and
(d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
as modifying the License.
You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
the conditions stated in this License.
5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
with Licensor regarding such Contributions.
6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.
7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.
8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
APPENDIX: How to apply the Apache License to your work.
To apply the Apache License to your work, attach the following
boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]"
replaced with your own identifying information. (Don't include
the brackets!) The text should be enclosed in the appropriate
comment syntax for the file format. We also recommend that a
file or class name and description of purpose be included on the
same "printed page" as the copyright notice for easier
identification within third-party archives.
Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
Requirements and compatibility
Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta
“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.
Needs: Needs a command-line tool, Needs Node.js
Security
No issues found by our static scan· No issues found
A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.
Attribution and licence
- Published by
- Publisher
- Google (Official)
- Source
- google/skills · skills/cloud/bigquery-optimization · commit 2194d3b
- Licence
- Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
- LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
- ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
- Synced
AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.
Download ZIP
The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download bigquery-optimization.zip