First CSV Dataset¶

This tutorial profiles one CSV file, infers a generation specification, generates new values, and validates the result.

Prerequisites¶

• complete Installation;
• run commands from a clone of this repository so the synthetic fixture below is available;
• choose a new output directory.

The fixture contains fictional values and reserved example email domains.

Generate 25 Rows¶

test-data-agent generate-from-csv tests/fixtures/customers.csv \
  --count 25 \
  --seed 12345 \
  --format csv \
  --output out/customers.csv

Expected summary:

Generated synthetic dataset: out | rows: customers=25 | seed: 12345 | validation: passed | source rows copied: no

The exact output path shown in the summary can vary by platform.

Inspect The Bundle¶

The command writes:

out/
  customers.csv
  csv_profile.json
  dataset_spec.json
  generation_manifest.json
  validation_report.json

Check the manifest before using the data:

python3 -c "import json; m=json.load(open('out/generation_manifest.json')); print(m['synthetic'], m['source_rows_copied'], m['validation_valid'], m['seed'])"

Expected output:

True False True 12345

Open out/customers.csv and confirm that it contains 25 generated rows plus the header. Source rows are not shuffled or copied.

Reproduce The Result¶

Generate into a different path with the same seed:

test-data-agent generate-from-csv tests/fixtures/customers.csv \
  --count 25 \
  --seed 12345 \
  --format csv \
  --output out/repeated/customers.csv

The two generated CSV files should match:

python3 -c "from pathlib import Path; assert Path('out/customers.csv').read_bytes() == Path('out/repeated/customers.csv').read_bytes(); print('deterministic: ok')"

Use Your Own CSV¶

Replace the fixture path with your file:

test-data-agent generate-from-csv data/customers.csv \
  --count 100 \
  --seed 12345 \
  --format csv \
  --output out/customers.csv

Treat every source CSV as potentially sensitive. Do not share its contents, profile artifacts, or command logs until you have reviewed them. The profiler suppresses raw values for fields detected as sensitive, but ambiguous domain fields still require human review.

Next, read Review The Output.