Data Contracts: Developing Production-Grade Pipelines at Scale

O'Reilly Media

Authors: Chad Sanderson, Mark Freeman, & B. E. Schmidt
Published: December 2025
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
ISBN: 978-1098157630

About the Book

Poor data quality can cause major problems for data teams, from breaking revenue-generating data pipelines to losing the trust of data consumers. Despite the importance of data quality, many data teams still struggle to avoid these issues — especially when their data is sourced from upstream workflows outside of their control.

Data contracts enable high-quality, well-governed data assets by documenting expectations of the data, establishing ownership of data assets, and then automatically enforcing these constraints within the CI/CD workflow. This practical book introduces data contract architecture with a clear definition of data contracts, explains why the data industry needs them, and shares real-world use cases of data contracts in production.

What You'll Learn

  • Explore real-world applications of data contracts within the industry
  • Understand how to apply each component of data contract architecture, such as CI/CD, monitoring, version control, and more
  • Learn how to implement data contracts using open-source tools
  • Examine ways to resolve data quality issues using data contract architecture
  • Measure the impact of implementing a data contract in your organization
  • Develop a strategy to determine how data contracts will be used in your organization

Where to Get It

1 # Data Contracts: Developing Production-Grade Pipelines at Scale
2
3 ## O'Reilly Media
4
5 **Authors:** Chad Sanderson, Mark Freeman, & B. E. Schmidt
6 **Published:** December 2025
7 **Publisher:** O'Reilly Media
8 **ISBN:** 978-1098157630
9
10 ---
11
12 ## About the Book
13
14 Poor data quality can cause major problems for data teams, from breaking revenue-generating data pipelines to losing the trust of data consumers. Despite the importance of data quality, many data teams still struggle to avoid these issues — especially when their data is sourced from upstream workflows outside of their control.
15
16 Data contracts enable high-quality, well-governed data assets by documenting expectations of the data, establishing ownership of data assets, and then automatically enforcing these constraints within the CI/CD workflow. This practical book introduces data contract architecture with a clear definition of data contracts, explains why the data industry needs them, and shares real-world use cases of data contracts in production.
17
18 ## What You'll Learn
19
20 - Explore real-world applications of data contracts within the industry
21 - Understand how to apply each component of data contract architecture, such as CI/CD, monitoring, version control, and more
22 - Learn how to implement data contracts using open-source tools
23 - Examine ways to resolve data quality issues using data contract architecture
24 - Measure the impact of implementing a data contract in your organization
25 - Develop a strategy to determine how data contracts will be used in your organization
26
27 ## Where to Get It
28
29 - [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Data-Contracts-Developing-Production-Grade-Pipelines/dp/109815763X) (paperback & Kindle)
30 - [Barnes & Noble](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/data-contracts-chad-sanderson/1147351543) (paperback)
31 - [Target](https://www.target.com/p/data-contracts-by-chad-sanderson-mark-freeman-paperback/-/A-1003525535) (paperback)
32 - [O'Reilly Media](https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/data-contracts/9781098157623/) (online reading)
33
34

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