How to materialize an @asset in a job of @ops

[dennisgera]

Hi team,

I'm currently attempting to materialize an asset from within a job of ops because one of my ops reads from that asset's data. I couldn't find a way to do this without repeating code. How does dagster recommend I materialize the asset before the op that reads from it starts in this case?

Here's a redacted snippet of my code for reference:

My Asset:

@asset(
    compute_kind="python",
    key_prefix=["raw", "raw_wen"],
)
def wen_contacts(
    context: OpExecutionContext,
    wen_api: WenAPI,
    config: RawConfig,
    s3_resource: S3Resource,
    postgres_database: PostgresClientResource,
):
    data = wen_api.get_all_contacts(params=config.dict())
	[...]
    postgres_database.persist(
        df=df,
        procedure=PersistProcedureEnum.REPLACE if config.is_full_extraction else PersistProcedureEnum.UPSERT,
		...
    )

    return MaterializeResult(metadata=metadata)

My Job:

@op
def get_current_contacts(analytics_warehouse: PostgresClientResource) -> pd.DataFrame:
	# This table is updated every time my asset is materialized. 
    # That's why I want to materialize my asset prior to this op in this job.
    return (
        analytics_warehouse.query("select * from raw_wen.wen_contacts")
        ...
    )

[...]
@op
def post_updates(update_df: pd.DataFrame, wen_api: WenAPI) -> None:
    ...


@job(
    name="update_wen_contacts_job",
)
def update_weni_contacts_job():
	# What should I do here to properly materialize my asset?
    post_updates(get_contacts_to_update(latest_contacts=get_latest_contacts(), current_contacts=get_current_contacts()))

[garethbrickman]

Jobs are distinct between ops and assets. Two ways to try came to my mind:

1. a run status sensor that listens for when the job gets queued and yields a RunRequest to materialize the asset
2. set up an asset job and then in an op call the GraphQL API to launch a run of the asset job

But these may not be worth doing compared to repeating code.

[dennisgera]

But these may not be worth doing compared to repeating code

Yeah, I was thinking the same. I was hoping Dagster had a way to materialize an asset in a job of ops. Thanks!