How can I effectively manage complex code in Hex Analytics? (Can I somehow use Claude Code?)
I'm a software engineer. I'm used to using an IDE + git to manage complex code. And, I'm leaning more and more heavily on AI to write my actual code.
Hex has its own revision control and audit trails (via git export), but git syncing is one-way; I can't make edits and sync back to Hex. And, it has its own AI magic, but it is pretty limited (and I don't have control over it).
I'm trying to think through how to "import" the workflow I now like into Hex, where I can use my own tools for editing a dashboard's source code. Has anyone figured this out?
The first idea I came up with is:
develop code in a jupyter notebook
copy/paste code into hex cells
This might work well for initial drafting of hex code, but it doesn't feel workable past that phase. (Hypothetically, to iterate on an existing dashboard, I could i) `git export` the current notebook, ii) convert the exported YAML into a notebook, iii) iterate on the notebook, and iv) sync the changes back into the dashboard, but that sounds terrible.)
Replies
Purposeful Poop
I was just thinking about this yesterday from a similar position you are in. It would be cool to have plugins or something that enables building features on top of hex. To some extent I imagine a company like hex would probably push toward improving the experience of their platform vs making it easier to "work elsewhere", but maybe im wrong about that.
this all made me think about using a more "agentic browser" as it would allow my "workflow" to be usable on many different platforms. (presumably i can develop, and have the browser agent just layer over hex)
some things that seem reasonable for hex to implement imo:
an instructions.llm file for each dashboard
and ideally require each published cell to have a description of the intent, and have an ai review the code that makes the cell to ~confirm its sane.
Don't have a great answer for you i guess.
Purposeful Poop
actually i poked around the docs a bit more and noticed you can import jupyter notebooks:
https://learn.hex.tech/docs/expl...
Hey y'all, Olivia here- a PM at Hex!
Totally heard you want to learn more heavily on AI to write a lot of your code - we've recently released a full new agentic experience in the notebook that brings the best of Sonnet 4 to Hex. It has the ability to generate/edit SQL, Python, Markdown, Charts cells in your project and search across your warehouse.
Here's a loom to see it in action - if you give it a try I'd love to hear your feedback!
You're also able to direct context via the Workspace Rules file to help customize its behavior and share business context.
As Matt said below, we do have import/explore support for Jupyter Notebook formatting and Hex YAML formatting as well but we think the in product Notebook Agent will be higher quality and easier!