Managing dbt Projects on Snowflake using Snowflake CLI

Note

The dbt Projects on Snowflake features in Snowflake CLI are available only in version 3.13.0 or later.

You can use Snowflake CLI to manage dbt projects with the following operations:

Deploying a dbt project object

The snow dbt deploy command uploads local files to a temporary stage and creates a new dbt project object, updates it by making a new version, or completely recreates it. A valid dbt project must contain two files:

  • dbt_project.yml: A standard dbt configuration file that specifies the profile to use.

  • profiles.yml: A dbt connection profile definition referenced in dbt_project.yml. profiles.yaml must define the database, role, schema, and type.

    • By default, dbt Projects on Snowflake uses your target schema (target.schema) specified from your dbt environment or profile. Unlike dbt Core behavior, the target schema specified in the profiles.yml file must exist before you create your dbt Project in order for it to compile or execute successfully.

    <profile_name>:
target: dev
outputs:
  dev:
    database: <database_name>
    role: <role_name>
    schema: <schema_name>
    type: snowflake
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The following examples illustrate how to use the snow dbt deploy command:

  • Deploy a dbt project object named jaffle_shop:

    snow dbt deploy jaffle_shop
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  • Deploy a project named jaffle_shop from a specified directory and create or add a new version depending on whether the dbt project object already exists:

    snow dbt deploy jaffle_shop --source /path/to/dbt/directory --profiles-dir ~/.dbt/ --force
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  • Deploy a project named jaffle_shop from a specified directory using a custom profiles directory and enabling external access integrations:

    snow dbt deploy jaffle_shop --source /path/to/dbt/directory
--profiles-dir ~/.dbt/ --default-target dev
--external-access-integration dbthub-integration
--external-access-integration github-integration
--force
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Listing all available dbt project objects

The snow dbt list command lists all available dbt project objects on Snowflake.

The following examples illustrate how to use the snow dbt list command:

  • List all available dbt project objects:

    snow dbt list
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  • List dbt project objects in the product database whose names begin with JAFFLE:

    snow dbt list --like JAFFLE% --in database product
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Executing a dbt project object command

The snow dbt execute command executes one of the following dbt commands on a Snowflake dbt project object:

For more information about using dbt commands, see the dbt Command reference.

The following examples illustrate how to use the snow dbt execute command:

  • Execute the dbt test command:

    snow dbt execute jaffle_shop test
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  • Execute the run dbt command asynchronously:

    snow dbt execute --run-async jaffle_shop run --select @source:snowplow,tag:nightly models/export
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Describing a dbt project object

The snow dbt describe command describes a dbt project object on Snowflake.

The following example describes the dbt project object named my_dbt_project on Snowflake:

snow dbt describe my_dbt_project
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Dropping a dbt project object

The snow dbt drop command deletes a dbt project object on Snowflake.

The following example deletes the dbt project object named my_dbt_project on Snowflake:

snow dbt drop my_dbt_project
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Use snow dbt commands in a CI/CD workflow

Note

When building CI/CD workflows, you only need your git server, such as Github, and Snowflake CLI. A Git repository object is not required.

You can run dbt commands with Snowflake CLI to build CI/CD pipelines. These pipelines are commonly used to test new code, such as new pull requests, or to update production applications whenever something is merged to the main branch.

To build a CI/CD workflow with snow dbt commands, follow these steps:

  1. Prepare your dbt project:

    1. Download your dbt project or start a new one.

      • Ensure that the main project directory contains the dbt_project.yml and profiles.yml files.

      • Verify that the profile name referenced in dbt_project.yml is defined in profiles.yml.

        Note

        Snowflake’s dbt project objects don’t need passwords, so if profiles.yml contains any, deployment stops until they are removed.

  2. Set up Snowflake CLI GitHub Action.

    Follow the guidelines for setting up GitHub Action for Snowflake CLI and verify your connection to Snowflake.

  3. Define your workflow.

    Determine which commands your workflow needs to run based on your organization’s needs. The following example illustrates a CI workflow that updates the version of the dbt project object named product_pipeline with new files, runs the transformations, and finally runs tests:

    - name: Execute Snowflake CLI command
  run: |
    snow dbt deploy product_pipeline
    snow dbt execute product_pipeline run
    snow dbt execute product_pipeline test
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