feat: Adds description attribute for features/fields (feast-dev#3425)

* Adding description as a first-class attribute for features/fields

Signed-off-by: Amom Mendes <[email protected]>

* Formatting

Signed-off-by: Amom Mendes <[email protected]>

Signed-off-by: Amom Mendes <[email protected]>

protos/feast/core/Feature.proto

@@ -33,4 +33,8 @@ message FeatureSpecV2 {
 
     // Tags for user defined metadata on a feature
     map<string,string> tags = 3;
+
+    // Description of the feature.
+
+    string description = 4;
 }

protos/feast/types/Field.proto

@@ -27,4 +27,10 @@ option go_package = "github.com/feast-dev/feast/go/protos/feast/types";
 message Field {
   string name = 1;
   feast.types.ValueType.Enum value = 2;
+
+  // Tags for user defined metadata on a field
+  map<string,string> tags = 3;
+
+  // Description of the field.
+  string description = 4;
 }

sdk/python/feast/feature.py

@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ def __init__(
         self,
         name: str,
         dtype: ValueType,
+        description: str = "",
         labels: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
     ):
         """Creates a Feature object."""
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@ def __init__(
         if dtype is ValueType.UNKNOWN:
             raise ValueError(f"dtype cannot be {dtype}")
         self._dtype = dtype
+        self._description = description
         if labels is None:
             self._labels = dict()
         else:
@@ -77,6 +79,13 @@ def dtype(self) -> ValueType:
         """
         return self._dtype
 
+    @property
+    def description(self) -> str:
+        """
+        Gets the description of the feature
+        """
+        return self._description
+
     @property
     def labels(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
@@ -96,6 +105,7 @@ def to_proto(self) -> FeatureSpecProto:
         return FeatureSpecProto(
             name=self.name,
             value_type=value_type,
+            description=self.description,
             tags=self.labels,
         )
 
@@ -111,6 +121,7 @@ def from_proto(cls, feature_proto: FeatureSpecProto):
         feature = cls(
             name=feature_proto.name,
             dtype=ValueType(feature_proto.value_type),
+            description=feature_proto.description,
             labels=dict(feature_proto.tags),
         )
 

sdk/python/feast/field.py

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class Field:
     Attributes:
         name: The name of the field.
         dtype: The type of the field, such as string or float.
-        tags: User-defined metadata in dictionary form.
+        tags (optional): User-defined metadata in dictionary form.
     """
 
     name: str
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ def __init__(
         *,
         name: str,
         dtype: FeastType,
+        description: str = "",
         tags: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
     ):
         """
@@ -54,6 +55,7 @@ def __init__(
         """
         self.name = name
         self.dtype = dtype
+        self.description = description
         self.tags = tags or {}
 
     def __eq__(self, other):
@@ -83,7 +85,12 @@ def __str__(self):
     def to_proto(self) -> FieldProto:
         """Converts a Field object to its protobuf representation."""
         value_type = self.dtype.to_value_type()
-        return FieldProto(name=self.name, value_type=value_type.value, tags=self.tags)
+        return FieldProto(
+            name=self.name,
+            value_type=value_type.value,
+            description=self.description,
+            tags=self.tags,
+        )
 
     @classmethod
     def from_proto(cls, field_proto: FieldProto):
@@ -109,5 +116,8 @@ def from_feature(cls, feature: Feature):
             feature: Feature object to convert.
         """
         return cls(
-            name=feature.name, dtype=from_value_type(feature.dtype), tags=feature.labels
+            name=feature.name,
+            dtype=from_value_type(feature.dtype),
+            description=feature.description,
+            tags=feature.labels,
         )

sdk/python/feast/templates/local/feature_repo/example_repo.py

@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
     schema=[
         Field(name="conv_rate", dtype=Float32),
         Field(name="acc_rate", dtype=Float32),
-        Field(name="avg_daily_trips", dtype=Int64),
+        Field(name="avg_daily_trips", dtype=Int64, description="Average daily trips"),
     ],
     online=True,
     source=driver_stats_source,

sdk/python/tests/unit/test_feature.py

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+from feast.field import Feature, Field
+from feast.types import Float32
+from feast.value_type import ValueType
+
+
+def test_feature_serialization_with_description():
+    expected_description = "Average daily trips"
+    feature = Feature(
+        name="avg_daily_trips", dtype=ValueType.FLOAT, description=expected_description
+    )
+    serialized_feature = feature.to_proto()
+
+    assert serialized_feature.description == expected_description
+
+
+def test_field_serialization_with_description():
+    expected_description = "Average daily trips"
+    field = Field(
+        name="avg_daily_trips", dtype=Float32, description=expected_description
+    )
+    feature = Feature(
+        name="avg_daily_trips", dtype=ValueType.FLOAT, description=expected_description
+    )
+
+    serialized_field = field.to_proto()
+    field_from_feature = Field.from_feature(feature)
+
+    assert serialized_field.description == expected_description
+    assert field_from_feature.description == expected_description

ui/src/pages/features/FeatureOverviewTab.tsx

@@ -55,6 +55,11 @@ const FeatureOverviewTab = () => {
                     {feast.types.ValueType.Enum[featureData?.valueType!]}
                   </EuiDescriptionListDescription>
 
+                  <EuiDescriptionListTitle>Description</EuiDescriptionListTitle>
+                  <EuiDescriptionListDescription>
+                    {featureData?.description}
+                  </EuiDescriptionListDescription>
+
                   <EuiDescriptionListTitle>FeatureView</EuiDescriptionListTitle>
                   <EuiDescriptionListDescription>
                     <EuiCustomLink