Pipeline Task Performance Monitor

ELEMENTARY CLOUD

The pipeline task performance monitor tracks the execution duration of dbt models, seeds, and snapshots on each run, and alerts when a node takes significantly longer than expected — or exceeds a fixed SLA threshold.

This is an automated monitor: Elementary creates it for every dbt node in your project, with no configuration required to get started.

Monitoring modes

Anomaly detection (default)

Elementary uses a z-score seasonal model to learn normal execution duration for each node. The model accounts for time-of-day and day-of-week patterns, so a model that reliably runs longer on Monday mornings will not be flagged during that window.

No configuration is required. Elementary builds the baseline from your pipeline run history automatically.

Static SLA

Set a fixed duration threshold. The monitor fails whenever the observed execution time exceeds that threshold, regardless of historical norms.

Use static SLA when you have a hard operational or contractual limit (e.g., “this model must finish within 10 minutes”).

Understand the monitor result

The result shows the execution duration of the dbt node for the latest run alongside the historical baseline.

• Anomaly detection — data points outside the expected range (grey band) are flagged. The expected range is derived from the seasonal model trained on historical durations.
• Static SLA — a horizontal line marks the threshold. Any run that crosses it is a failure.

Use the Anomaly settings button to adjust mode, sensitivity, or training period after the monitor is created.

Anomaly settings

Setting	Description	Default
mode	"anomaly" or "static"	"anomaly"
sensitivity	"low", "medium", or "high" (anomaly mode only)	"medium"
training_period	Days of history used to train the model (anomaly mode only)	14
anomaly_direction	"spike" (duration longer than expected), "drop", or "both" (anomaly mode only)	"spike"
excluded_time_ranges	Time ranges excluded from training and detection (anomaly mode only)	[]
fixed_threshold	Max allowed execution duration in seconds (static SLA mode only)	—

• Severity - Should a failure be considered a warning or a failure. Default is warning.
• Test metadata - Add metadata such as tags and owner to the test.

Alerts

Failures raise alerts in the pipeline_performance alert category, routed through alert rules to all configured integrations (Slack, PagerDuty, Teams, OpsGenie, email).

By default, alerts are not active. To enable them, go to Setup → Alert Rules and add Pipeline performance to the relevant rule’s alert categories.

Related

• Performance Alerts — setup guide and API reference for creating pipeline_task_performance monitors
• Automated monitors overview — how automated monitors work across freshness, volume, and performance