{"id":73132,"title":"🔹 Serra - Low-code, modular SQL","tagline":"Python-based dbt alternative","body":"**tl;dr:** [Serra](https://www.serra.io) takes a 200-line SQL script and reduces it to a few lines of code. Serra simplifies complex pipeline logic with reusable testable objects, saving hours of development and maintenance time.\n\nHi everyone! We’re Alan and Albert, the best friends behind Serra. We want to simplify ETL so that even your dad (👨🏻) can maintain a data pipeline.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=73132\u0026key=user_uploads/1241137/e069458b-6108-48e2-b2b2-33304afc6880)\n\n### **❌ The Problem**\n\nCompanies spend **$520K** annually building and maintaining data pipelines.\n\nData engineers spend **44% of their time** fixing pipelines that inevitably crash.\n\n\u003e **12 data engineers** \\* **$98K salary** \\* **44% of their time** = **$520K** ([Fivetran](https://get.fivetran.com/rs/353-UTB-444/images/2021-CDL-Wakefield-Research.pdf))\n\nSo why do data pipelines crash and burn?\n\n* Complex scripts\n* Limited alerting, debugging\n* Inadequate testing\n\nAll of these make data pipelines a nightmare to fix, especially at 3am.\n\n## **✨ Our Solution**\n\n**Serra is a python-based DBT alternative that takes a 200-line SQL script and reduces it to just a few lines of code.**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=73132\u0026key=user_uploads/1241137/7eec5a59-66c0-4007-9b22-efd89aa5e2ca)\n\nSerra’s framework emphasizes software engineering best practices like **readability, testability, modularity, and reusability**.\n\nSerra **simplifies** complex SQL scripts to just a few lines of Python code with modular transformers and in-house connectors.\n\nSerra provides **fully-customizable error logging** for every transformer and connector.\n\nWith a command line tool, developers can easily create pipelines, auto document them, **run local tests**, and **run jobs with their favorite data warehouse.**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=73132\u0026key=user_uploads/1241137/0588746d-9b72-4e91-bc4f-cea9e6eab736)\n\n## **🤔 How are we different from DBT?**\n\nSerra is not tied to SQL and therefore handles all parts of ETL. Serra provides intuitive control flow, more complex transforms with Python, full streaming support, and comprehensive debugging/testing capabilities.\n\n## **👏 The Team**\n\n[Alan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanhlwang/) and [Albert](https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?fetchDeterministicClustersOnly=true\u0026heroEntityKey=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAABvJV34B9Kn2x938wSRljsdtR_Vu8-sNKUg\u0026keywords=albert%20stanley\u0026origin=RICH_QUERY_TYPEAHEAD_HISTORY\u0026position=0\u0026searchId=2590d498-3822-4c87-904c-47bec49bccd6\u0026sid=DN6) are best friends from middle school Algebra. Alan is an ex-Data Engineer at Disney+ and a Statistics \u0026 Data Science alum from UCLA. Albert is an ex-Software Engineer at Amazon Alexa and a UCLA Master’s graduate in Computer Science.\n\n## **🙏 Ask**\n\nTry out our live demo [here](https://replit.com/@serra-technologies/SerraDemo) (fork the Replit)!\n\nIf you like what you see, join our [waitlist](https://www.serra.io) and [Discord](https://discord.gg/3VbvqWbE)!\n\nIntros to any data engineers, data leaders, Databricks users, and anyone from companies that are trying to optimize their ETLs would be amazing. Please reach out at [founders@serra.io](mailto:founders@serra.io)!","slug":"J1Y-serra-low-code-modular-sql","created_at":"2023-07-17T14:13:53.699Z","updated_at":"2026-05-09T01:30:15.781Z","total_vote_count":52,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/J1Y-serra-low-code-modular-sql","share_image_url":"//bookface-static.ycombinator.com/assets/ycdc/yc-og-image-c440a0ad1dacfb86eeeb343717479cc54d256614449b4ef719977a0a451f8bc8.png","company":{"id":28863,"name":"Serra","slug":"serra","url":"https://www.serra.io/","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/de1a90717852abf9734482354e7229c962c19089.png","batch":"Summer 2023","industry":"B2B","tags":["Artificial Intelligence","Recruiting","HR Tech","Enterprise Software","AI Assistant"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/28863"}}