To unlock the magic of Looker, data experts at each organization describe their data in a lightweight modeling language called LookML. LookML tells Looker how to query data so everyone in the organization can create Looks and dashboards without needing to understand the behind-the-scenes details. This page outlines the documentation on preparing to write LookML.
Development basics
The following documentation pages help you understand the basics of developing in Looker:
- How a project works in Looker — Understand the basic concepts and structure of a project in Looker.
- Development Mode and Production Mode — Understand the differences between Development Mode and Production Mode.
- LookML project files — Get an overview of the types of files that may exist in a project in Looker.
- Understanding model and view files — Build model and view files.
- Understanding other project files — Add dashboard, document, data, project manifest, locale strings, explore, data test, and other files to your project.
- Navigating projects with the object browser panel — Use the object browser in the IDE to view the objects and object hierarchies within your project.
SQL in Looker
The following documentation pages help you understand how to use SQL with Looker:
- How Looker generates SQL — Learn how Looker generates SQL from LookML.
- SQL Runner basics — Learn about SQL Runner and how to use it.
- Using SQL Runner to create queries and Explores — Use SQL Runner to issue and debug SQL queries.
- Using SQL Runner to create derived tables — Use SQL Runner to create and debug derived tables.
- Managing database functions with SQL Runner — Issue SQL queries, create derived tables, and get database information with SQL Runner.
Creating and editing projects
The following documentation pages help you understand how to create and edit projects with Looker:
- Creating a new LookML project — Create a LookML project and configure a model.
- Accessing and editing project information — Access and make changes to LookML projects.
- Generating a model — Automatically generate a basic LookML model.
Git and version control
The following documentation pages help you understand how to set up and configure version control for Looker developers:
- Setting up and testing a Git connection — Connect to a Git repository and integrate it with Looker.
- Configuring project version control settings — Configure a project for use with Git and set options for using your Git repository with Looker.
- Configuring the webhook deploy secret — Configure, change, or remove the deploy secret for a repository's webhook.
- Using version control and deploying — Create and manage Git branches, commit, and deploy using Git.
- Git command reference — View a list of available Git commands and their descriptions.
Setting up a database connection
The following documentation pages help you understand how to connect to a database that can be used for LookML modeling:
- Enabling secure database access — Take the first step in connecting a database: Choose an option to secure data between Looker and your database.
- Database configuration instructions — View links for database-specific instructions for configuring your database to work with Looker.
- Connecting Looker to your database — Learn how to connect your database and Looker.
- Testing database connectivity — Test and troubleshoot the connection to your database.
Looker Marketplace
Using the Looker Marketplace — Use the Looker Marketplace to install, deploy, and manage prebuilt Looker applications, models, Looker-managed databases for popular data sources, and visualization types.