The GOOD Model Checklist
What makes a good model? In general, good Models should be:
- Generalized
- Short
- Legible
- Strict
These checks either ARE or WILL be added as automated Checks on PRs.
Check your
model.describe() decorator:- Increment the Version Number when you update your model
- The Slug is Unique
- The Slug is correctly Name-spaced
- The Display Name is descriptive but not too long
- The Description describes what the model does
- The DTOs describe the Inputs and Outputs schemas
Check the model’s content:
- It does one thing, and it does it well
- It conforms to it’s type definition
- Does the client have the ability to ask for what they want?
- Do you set good default inputs?
- Don’t make historical calls within models unless absolutely necessary
Check the code:
- It raises ModelDataError instead of returning None or 0
- It returns a DTO, and uses a framework DTO if it exists.
- It doesn’t have any print() statements.
- It passes linting tests.
- There are no global functions that aren’t models
Check the legibility:
- It is a minimal number of lines of code to get the job done
- It uses descriptive variable names
Check for repetition:
- It calls other models if they exist
- It uses the framework tools if they exist
Check that your actions are allowed on your model type:
Models that fetches data | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ | ❌ |
Algorithmic models | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ only other algorithms | ❌ | ✅ |
Models that stitch together other models | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Models that have hardcoded configuration | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |