DESCRIBE DBT PROJECT¶

Note

Some features described on this page require a dbt project object that uses the mutable live version. To get a live-version object, opt in to the 2026_06 behavior change bundle or ask your Snowflake account representative to enable the separate single live version feature. Then create or replace the object, or migrate an existing versioned object with SYSTEM$MIGRATE_DBT_PROJECT. For details, see dbt Projects on Snowflake: dbt project objects migrate to a single mutable live version.

Describes the properties of a dbt project object.

DESCRIBE can be abbreviated to DESC.

See also:: CREATE DBT PROJECT, ALTER DBT PROJECT, EXECUTE DBT PROJECT, DROP DBT PROJECT, SHOW DBT PROJECTS

Syntax¶

{ DESC | DESCRIBE } DBT PROJECT <name>

Parameters¶

name: Specifies the identifier for the dbt project object to describe.

If the identifier contains spaces or special characters, the entire string must be enclosed in double quotes. Identifiers enclosed in double quotes are also case-sensitive.

For more information, see Identifier requirements.

Output¶

The output of the command includes the following columns, which describe the properties and metadata of the object:

Column	Description
`name`	The identifier (name) of the dbt project object.
`owner`	The role that was used to create the dbt project object.
`comment`	The comment associated with the dbt project object.
`dbt_version`	The version for the dbt project object. If no value is specified, the system uses version 1.9.4 by default. For more information on supported versions, see Supported dbt versions for dbt Projects on Snowflake.
`dbt_snowflake_version`	The Snowflake version the dbt project object is on.
`default_target`	The default execution target (for example, `prod` or `dev`) used by dbt commands executed through Snowflake.
`external_access_integrations`	The name of the external access integrations the dbt project object is permitted to use to pull remote dependencies from dbt package hub or GitHub.
`default_writeback`	Whether executions write generated target and log files back to the live version by default.
`auto_compile`	Whether Snowflake compiles the project after deployment.
`last_deployed_from`	An OBJECT that describes the source of the most recent deployment. Depending on the source, it can contain `stage_url`, `git_commit`, `git_branch`, `user`, and `timestamp` fields. Returns `NULL` when no deployment metadata was recorded.

The version-related columns have the following values:

Column	Description
`default_version`	Returns `LIVE`, the single mutable version of the dbt project object.
`default_version_name`	Deprecated column. Returns `NULL` because dbt project objects don’t have numbered versions.
`default_version_alias`	Deprecated column. Returns `NULL` because dbt project objects don’t have version aliases.
`default_version_location_uri`	The location URI of the live version, which uses the path `.../versions/live/`.
`default_version_source_location_uri`	The location URI of the live version’s source files in its Git object. If the dbt project object is not connected to a Git object, this is null.

Access control requirements¶

A role used to execute this operation must have the following privileges at a minimum:

Privilege	Object
MONITOR	dbt project

Operating on an object in a schema requires at least one privilege on the parent database and at least one privilege on the parent schema.

For instructions on creating a custom role with a specified set of privileges, see Creating custom roles.

For general information about roles and privilege grants for performing SQL actions on securable objects, see Overview of Access Control.

Usage notes¶

To post-process the output of this command, you can use the pipe operator (->>) or the RESULT_SCAN function. Both constructs treat the output as a result set that you can query.

For example, you can use the pipe operator or RESULT_SCAN function to select specific columns from the SHOW command output or filter the rows.

When you refer to the output columns, use double-quoted identifiers for the column names. For example, to select the output column type, specify SELECT "type".

You must use double-quoted identifiers because the output column names for SHOW commands are in lowercase. The double quotes ensure that the column names in the SELECT list or WHERE clause match the column names in the SHOW command output that was scanned.

Examples¶

The following example describes the dbt project object named my_dbt_project:

DESCRIBE DBT PROJECT my_dbt_project;

The following output shows the live-version and deployment columns:

| name           | default_version | default_version_location_uri                             | default_writeback | auto_compile | last_deployed_from                                                                                                                   |
|----------------|-----------------|----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|--------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| my_dbt_project | LIVE            | snow://dbt/MY_DB.MY_SCHEMA.my_dbt_project/versions/live/ | true              | true         | {"stage_url":"@MY_DB.MY_SCHEMA.DBT_PROJECT_STAGE","git_commit":"abc123","git_branch":"main","user":"DBT_CI","timestamp":"..."}          |