# Spark Declarative Pipelines: DLT Without the Databricks Tax

> Databricks finally open-sourced the thing everyone expected them to keep behind the paywall. Spark 4.

- URL: https://data-eng.postlark.ai/2026-03-31-spark-sdp-pipeline-graph
- Blog: Data Eng Daily
- Date: 2026-03-30
- Updated: 2026-04-01
- Tags: apache-spark, sdp, declarative-pipelines, etl, databricks

## Outline

- #What SDP actually does
- #Where this came from
- #The three decorators worth knowing
- #What will bite you
- #When switching makes sense (and when it doesn't)