when agent tried to run great expectations validation agent used wrong data context error failed

TL;DR

Print and pin the active data context before validating: load the context from the project's great_expectations directory explicitly, log its mode and datasource list, and fail fast if the datasources do not match the project the agent thinks it is in. A wrong context, such as an ephemeral one or another project's config, validates the wrong data or nothing at all while looking like a configuration error elsewhere.

when agent tried to run great expectations validation agent used wrong data context error failed

Use this when

• The check or run fails with this symptom: the agent ran validation against the wrong Great Expectations data context.
• You are working on an agent running Great Expectations validation from a script or notebook and the failure repeats on the same data or configuration.
• You need the failing rows, rule, or stage isolated before changing thresholds or code.

Not for this skill when

• A project that intentionally uses an ephemeral context in tests, where the fix is constructing it with the right datasources rather than loading a file context.
• The error text names a different tool, stage, or root cause. Match the verbatim error first and use that skill.

Steps

1. Instantiate the context from the explicit project directory and log the context mode and configured datasource names. Verify: the run output states which context and datasources are active
2. Compare the active datasources against the project's expected list and stop on any mismatch before running checkpoints. Verify: a mismatch halts the run with the two lists shown
3. Run one checkpoint and open its result to confirm the validated table is the intended one. Verify: the result names the expected table and batch
4. Record the context path in the run report so later failures can be compared against the same configuration. Verify: the report carries the context location used

Variant phrasings

agent used wrong data context great expectations

The wrong-context phrasing.

validation ran against wrong project gx agent

The wrong-project phrasing.

great expectations ephemeral context agent missing suites

The ephemeral-context phrasing.

Compatibility: Agents running Great Expectations checkpoints and validations programmatically

Why it happens

Great Expectations resolves its context from several sources, working directory, environment, or an ephemeral default, and an agent running from a different directory silently gets a different context. The validation then runs faithfully against the wrong configuration, so the error looks like missing suites or empty results instead of a wrong starting point.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• Multiple projects on one machine make working-directory drift common; pass the context path as an argument, never rely on the current directory.
• An empty result set from the wrong context can look like passing validation; assert the batch row count is nonzero.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_j-EqwN90hEuPkeTgdtYKvg