---
title: "Best practices"
slug: "dev-dataengine-best-practices-index"
tags: ["DataEngine"]
updated: 2026-10-28T02:14:59Z
published: 2026-10-28T02:14:59Z
canonical: "docs.vastdata.com/dev-dataengine-best-practices-index"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vastdata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Best practices

This section will recommend designs and starting values for functions and pipelines: what to choose for a given workload, and how to size for it. Recommendations are a starting point, based on benchmarks and deployments. Always measure with your own data before you rely on them.

## What this section will contain

- **Function sizing and autoscaling:** CPU, memory and concurrency settings for common function types.
- **Pipeline design patterns:** fan-out, batching and chaining functions, and when to split a step.
- **Handling failures in production:** retries, the dead-letter topic and replay as an operating practice.
- **Promoting pipelines between environments:** moving the same pipeline from development to test to production.

Each page will say which VAST Cluster version and test setup its recommendations come from.

## Where to find how it works

The rest of the VAST DataEngine docs explain how each feature works, what each setting does and how to measure the result: [write a function](/develop/docs/dev-dataengine-guides-write-a-function), [pipelines as code](/develop/docs/dev-dataengine-guides-pipelines-as-code), [consume the dead-letter topic](/develop/docs/dev-dataengine-integrations-dead-letter-topic), [CI/CD and automation](/develop/docs/dev-dataengine-operations-ci-cd), [observability](/develop/docs/dev-dataengine-guides-observability). Best-practices pages link to those pages rather than repeat them.

## Status

This section is being written. Until its pages are published, start with the pages above, and ask your VAST account team for guidance on your workload.