Databricks TL;DR Cheatsheet
Learn Databricks 10× faster with the cleanest, zero fluff content
Core Platform & Workspaces
Workspace & Repos
Git Integration • Folders • DBFS vs Repos • Permissions
Clusters (Interactive vs Job)
All-Purpose • Job • Serverless • Photon • Spot Instances
Instance Pools
Warm nodes • Idle timeout • Pre-warmed instances
Delta Lake & Lakehouse
Delta Lake Core
ACID • Time Travel • Z-Order • Optimize • Vacuum
Delta Live Tables (DLT)
Pipelines • Streaming Tables • Expectations • Materialized Views
Unity Catalog
3-level namespace • Governance • Data Lineage • Sharing
Lakehouse Federation
Query MySQL, Postgres, Snowflake without moving data
Notebooks & Development
Notebooks & Magic Commands
%sql • %python • %run • dbutils • Widgets
Databricks SQL (DBSQL)
Warehouses • Query Editor • Alerts • Dashboards
Workflows (Jobs)
Tasks • DAG • Task Values • Repair Run • Schedules
Performance & Cost
Photon Engine
Vectorized • C++ • 3–10x faster • Serverless & Pro
Cost Optimization
DBU pricing • Spot • Auto-termination • Cluster sizing
DLT Maintenance
Refresh vs Full • Retention • Expectation alerts
Security & Governance
Secrets & Key Management
dbutils.secrets • Scope • Azure Key Vault • AWS KMS
Table ACLs & Row Filters
GRANT • Dynamic Views • Column Masking
Delta Sharing
Open sharing • Recipients • No copy • Power BI, Pandas