spark-connect

spark-connect is a skill for Claude Code from Galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep. It costs 80 tokens per session (2,772 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A study and setup guide for Spark Connect, a client-server way to use Apache Spark, a system for processing large datasets.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to prepare for the Spark Connect section of the Databricks exam, configure a client and server, and migrate PySpark code to the separated architecture.
Why use it?
It clarifies the Spark 3.4–3.5 architecture and helps avoid mixing exam-relevant material with Spark 4 features outside the stated exam scope.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: allowed-tools in frontmatter.

Needs its repository: it runs a file that does not travel with it, so clone the repository first. The line is ./sbin/start-connect-server.sh \.

Good fit Use it to prepare for the Spark Connect section of the Databricks exam, configure a client and server, and migrate PySpark code to the separated architecture.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install

Getting it into your agent

It runs from inside its repository, so the clone comes first — what it calls does not travel with the file alone.

Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep
agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep/spark-connect

Made for: Claude Code.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for spark-connect

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep/spark-connect/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep/spark-connect)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep/spark-connect"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep/spark-connect/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for spark-connect

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep/spark-connect"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep/spark-connect.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 80 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,772 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00080 $0.02772
Opus 5 $0.00040 $0.01386
Sonnet 5 $0.00016 $0.00554
Haiku 4.5 $0.00008 $0.00277

Measured 10d ago against content hash 532355291556, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-10, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

spark-connect scanned grade A with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 10d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Makes network callslowCapability

Not a fault in itself. Listed so you know the mod talks to something, and to what.

> To regenerate local snapshots: `curl -sSL <url> -o source.html` (or use WebFetch with extraction prompts) for each URL above.
skills/spark-connect/SKILL.md · 203 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 203 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Spark Connect — Exam-Prep Knowledge Base

Source Spark version: 3.5.7 (latest 3.5.x docs) + 3.4 launch context | Chapters: 5 | Generated: 2026-05-24

Scope rule: Anything from Spark 3.4 ≤ version ≤ 3.5.x is in scope for the Databricks Certified Associate Developer for Apache Spark exam (Sec 6). Anything from Spark 4.x is flagged ⚠️ as out of exam scope. The skill is conservative — when 4.x docs were used, content is marked accordingly.

How to Use This Skill

  • Without arguments — loads the Core Frameworks below (Spark Connect at exam depth).
  • By topic — ask about gRPC, unresolved logical plan, sc:// URL, SPARK_REMOTE, start-connect-server.sh, etc. → I find and read the relevant chapter.
  • By chapterch01, ch02, ch03, ch04, ch05.

Core Frameworks & Mental Models

Spark Connect in one paragraph

Spark Connect = decoupled client-server architecture for Apache Spark, introduced in Spark 3.4 and matured for Scala in 3.5. The client (any language) builds a DataFrame query, serializes it as an unresolved logical plan in protocol buffers, ships it over gRPC to a Spark Connect server embedded in the Spark driver. The server resolves the plan against its Catalog, runs Catalyst + Tungsten as normal, and streams results back as Apache Arrow row batches. Result: thin clients, isolated client failures, independent upgrades.

Why it exists (4 pain points it solves)

  1. Stability — a misbehaving user app can't crash the shared driver
  2. Upgradability — driver upgrades independently of clients (stable protobuf protocol)
  3. Debuggability — client is a normal local process you can attach a debugger to
  4. Language flexibility — protocol is language-agnostic; multiple language clients possible

The wire protocol (memorize for the exam)

  • Unresolved logical plans as the language-agnostic protocol
  • Encoded with Protocol Buffers
  • Transported over gRPC (HTTP/2)
  • Results return as Apache Arrow row batches

Read the full file on GitHub · 203 lines

Files

What ships with it

8 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 10d ago First seen · 203 lines · 80 tokens per session scan A 532355291556

Subscribe to this mod's changes

spark-connect is a skill published in the GitHub repository Galius5136/databricks-spark-3.5-cert-prep (12 stars, last pushed 3mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 80 tokens to every session and 2,772 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 1 finding (makes network calls). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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