Live version for dbt project objects and files¶

A dbt project object has one mutable version named live. Creating an object creates the live version, and each later deployment replaces the same live version.

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.

Note

The live object version is distinct from the dbt runtime version used for execution. For information about dbt Core and dbt Fusion runtime versions, see Supported dbt versions for dbt Projects on Snowflake.

Snowflake stores the live version in the dbt project stage at a path in the following form:

snow://dbt/<database>.<schema>.<project>/versions/live

For example, the following path references the dbt_project.yml file in a project named my_dbt_project_object:

snow://dbt/my_db.my_schema.my_dbt_project_object/versions/live/dbt_project.yml

The live identifier always refers to the current contents of the object.

Create or update the live version¶

The following operations create or update the live version:

CREATE DBT PROJECT creates a new object and its live version.
ALTER DBT PROJECT ... DEPLOY replaces the contents of an existing live version.
snow dbt deploy creates the object if it doesn’t exist or updates its live version if it does.

Warning

Don’t use --force unless you intentionally want to recreate the dbt project object. In snow dbt deploy, --force runs CREATE OR REPLACE DBT PROJECT, which may remove run history.

Deployment replaces the entire live version in a single operation, including existing target and log artifacts. Executions see either the complete previous deployment or the complete new deployment, never a partially updated project.

For deployment procedures, see Deploy dbt project objects.

Writeback controls whether an execution writes generated target and log artifacts to the live version. An execution uses the object’s DEFAULT_WRITEBACK setting unless you override it with WRITEBACK. Snowflake stores separate per-query result artifacts and their archive under the object’s results directory regardless of the writeback setting.

Copy files to or from the live version¶

Use COPY FILES or snow dbt copy to copy files between an internal stage and the live version:

COPY FILES
  INTO 'snow://dbt/my_db.my_schema.my_dbt_project/versions/live/state_backup/'
  FROM @my_db.my_schema.my_stage/state/;

COPY FILES
  INTO @my_db.my_schema.my_stage/project_backup/
  FROM 'snow://dbt/my_db.my_schema.my_dbt_project/versions/live/';

You can also use GET and PUT with a versions/live path to download or upload files.

These operations persistently modify or copy the live files. In contrast, the IMPORTS clause of EXECUTE DBT PROJECT and the Snowflake CLI --import option mount read-only files under ./imports for one execution.