# Down with Pipeline debt / Introducing Great Expectations | Great Expectations

**URL:** https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/t/down-with-pipeline-debt-introducing-great-expectations-great-expectations/144
**Category:** Archive
**Created:** [May 22, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/t/down-with-pipeline-debt-introducing-great-expectations-great-expectations/144 "2020-05-22T18:59:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![kyle](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.greatexpectations.io/kyle/32/18_2.png) [@kyle](https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/u/kyle)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/t/down-with-pipeline-debt-introducing-great-expectations-great-expectations/144/1 "2020-05-22T18:59:36Z")

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TL;DR: **pipeline debt** is a species of technical debt that infests backend data systems. It drags down productivity and puts analytic integrity at risk. The best way to beat pipeline debt is a new twist on automated testing: **pipeline tests** , which are applied to data (instead of code) and at batch time (instead of compile or deploy time). We’re releasing [Great Expectations](https://github.com/great-expectations/great_expectations), an open-source tool that make it easy to test data pipelines. Come take it for a spin!

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://greatexpectations.io/blog/down-with-pipeline-debt-introducing-great-expectations/](https://greatexpectations.io/blog/down-with-pipeline-debt-introducing-great-expectations/)
