Create a new Kedro project

There are several ways to create a new Kedro project. This page explains the flow to create a basic project using kedro new to output a project directory containing the basic files and subdirectories that make up a Kedro project.

You can also create a new Kedro project with a starter that adds a set of code for a common project use case. Starters are explained separately later in the documentation set and illustrated with the spaceflights tutorial.

Introducing kedro new

You can create a basic Kedro project containing the default code needed to set up your own nodes and pipelines. Navigate to your preferred directory and type:

kedro new

Project name

The command line interface then asks you to enter a name for the project. This is the human-readable name, and it may contain alphanumeric symbols, spaces, underscores, and hyphens. It must be at least two characters long.

It’s best to keep the name simple because the choice is set as the value of project_name and is also used to generate the folder and package names for the project automatically.

So, if you enter “Get Started”, the folder for the project (repo_name) is automatically set to be get-started, and the Python package name (python_package) for the project is set to be get_started.

Description

Setting

Example

A human-readable name for the new project

project_name

Get Started

Local directory to store the project

repo_name

get-started

The Python package name for the project (short, all-lowercase)

python_package

get_started

Project tools

The command line interface then asks which tools you’d like to include in the project. The options are as follows and described in more detail above in the documentation about the new project tools.

You can add one or more of the options, or follow the default and add none at all:

  • Linting: A basic linting setup with Black and ruff

  • Testing: A basic testing setup with pytest

  • Custom Logging: Additional logging options

  • Documentation: Configuration for basic documentation built with Sphinx

  • Data Structure: The directory structure for storing data locally

  • PySpark: Setup and configuration for working with PySpark

  • Kedro Viz: Kedro’s native visualisation tool.

Project examples

The CLI offers the option to include example pipelines. Your choice of tools determines which spaceflights starter example is provided. Here’s a guide to understanding which starter examples are used based on your selections:

  • Default Starter (spaceflights-pandas): Used when you select any combination of Linting, Testing, Custom Logging, Documentation, and Data Structure, excluding PySpark and Kedro Viz.

  • PySpark Starter (spaceflights-pyspark): Chosen when PySpark is selected with any other tools, except Kedro Viz.

  • Kedro Viz Starter (spaceflights-pandas-viz): Applicable when Kedro Viz is part of your selection, with any other tools, excluding PySpark.

  • Full Feature Starter (spaceflights-pyspark-viz): This example is used when you select all available tools, including PySpark and Kedro Viz.

Each starter example is tailored to demonstrate the capabilities and integrations of the selected tools, offering a practical insight into how they can be utilised in your project.

Run the new project

Whichever options you selected for tools and example code, once kedro new has completed, the next step is to navigate to the project folder (cd <project-name>) and install dependencies with pip as follows:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Now run the project:

kedro run

Note

The first time you type a kedro command in a new project, you will be asked whether you wish to opt into usage analytics. Your decision is recorded in the .telemetry file so that subsequent calls to kedro in this project do not ask this question again.

Visualise a Kedro project

This section swiftly introduces project visualisation using Kedro-Viz. See the Kedro-Viz documentation for more detail.

The Kedro-Viz package needs to be installed into your virtual environment separately as it is not part of the standard Kedro installation:

pip install kedro-viz

To start Kedro-Viz, navigate to the project folder (cd <project-name>) and enter the following in your terminal:

kedro viz

This command automatically opens a browser tab to serve the visualisation at http://127.0.0.1:4141/.

To exit the visualisation, close the browser tab. To regain control of the terminal, enter ^+c on Mac or Ctrl+c on Windows or Linux machines.

Where next?

You have completed the section on Kedro project creation for new users. Here are some useful resources to learn more:

  • Understand more about Kedro: The following page explains the fundamental Kedro concepts.

  • Learn hands-on: If you prefer to learn hands-on, move on to the spaceflights tutorial. The tutorial illustrates how to set up a working project, add dependencies, create nodes, register pipelines, set up the Data Catalog, add documentation, and package the project.

  • How-to guide for notebook users: The documentation section following the tutorial explains how to combine Kedro with a Jupyter notebook.

If you’ve worked through the documentation listed and are unsure where to go next, review the Kedro repositories on GitHub and Kedro’s Slack channels.

Flowchart of general choice of tools

Here is a flowchart to help guide your choice of tools and examples you can select:

General overview diagram for setting up a new Kedro project with tools