Snapshot configurations
Related documentation
Available configurations
Resource-specific configurations are applicable to only one dbt resource type rather than multiple resource types. You can define these settings in the project file (dbt_project.yml
), a property file (models/properties.yml
for models, similarly for other resources), or within the resource’s file using the {{ config() }}
macro.
The following resource-specific configurations are only available to Snapshots:
- Project file
- Property file
- Config block
General configurations
General configurations provide broader operational settings applicable across multiple resource types. Like resource-specific configurations, these can also be set in the project file, property files, or within resource-specific files.
- Project file
- Property file
- Config block
Configuring snapshots
Snapshots can be configured in one of three ways:
- Defined in YAML files, typically in your snapshots directory (available in Versionless or and dbt Core v1.9 and higher).
- Using a
config
block within a snapshot - Using a
config
resource property in a.yml
file - From the
dbt_project.yml
file, under thesnapshots:
key. To apply a configuration to a snapshot, or directory of snapshots, define the resource path as nested dictionary keys.
Snapshot configurations are applied hierarchically in the order above.
Examples
The following examples demonstrate how to configure snapshots using the dbt_project.yml
file, a config
block within a snapshot, and a .yml
file.
-
Apply configurations to all snapshots
To apply a configuration to all snapshots, including those in any installed packages, nest the configuration directly under the
snapshots
key:dbt_project.yml
snapshots:
+unique_key: id -
Apply configurations to all snapshots in your project
To apply a configuration to all snapshots in your project only (for example, excluding any snapshots in installed packages), provide your project name as part of the resource path.
For a project named
jaffle_shop
:dbt_project.yml
snapshots:
jaffle_shop:
+unique_key: idSimilarly, you can use the name of an installed package to configure snapshots in that package.
-
Apply configurations to one snapshot only
You can also use the full resource path (including the project name, and subdirectories) to configure an individual snapshot from your
dbt_project.yml
file.For a project named
jaffle_shop
, with a snapshot file within thesnapshots/postgres_app/
directory, where the snapshot is namedorders_snapshot
(as above), this would look like:dbt_project.ymlsnapshots:
jaffle_shop:
postgres_app:
orders_snapshot:
+unique_key: id
+strategy: timestamp
+updated_at: updated_atYou can also define some common configs in a snapshot's
config
block. We don't recommend this for a snapshot's required configuration, however.dbt_project.ymlversion: 2
snapshots:
- name: orders_snapshot
config:
persist_docs:
relation: true
columns: true