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Snapshot configurations

Available configurations​

Snapshot-specific 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:

Snapshot configuration migration​

The latest snapshot YAML configurations introduced in dbt v1.9 and higher (such as snapshot_meta_column_names and dbt_valid_to_current) are best suited for new snapshots. For existing snapshots, we recommend the following to avoid any inconsistencies to your snapshots:

For new snapshots​

  • Use the latest snapshot YAML configurations when creating new snapshots that didn't exist previously.

For existing snapshots​

  • Migrate tables — Migrate the previous snapshot to the new table schema and values:
    • Create a backup copy of your snapshots.
    • Use alter statements as needed to ensure table consistency or use a script to apply the alter statements.
  • New YAML config — Convert the YAML configurations one at a time, testing as you go.

If you use one of the latest configs, such as dbt_valid_to_current, without migrating your data may result in mixed old and new data, leading to incorrect downstream result.

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.

dbt_project.yml

Configuring snapshots​

Snapshots can be configured in multiple ways:

Snapshot configurations are applied hierarchically in the order above with higher taking precedence.

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: id

    Similarly, 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 the snapshots/postgres_app/ directory, where the snapshot is named orders_snapshot (as above), this would look like:

    dbt_project.yml
    snapshots:
      jaffle_shop:
        postgres_app:
          orders_snapshot:
            +unique_key: id
            +strategy: timestamp
            +updated_at: updated_at

    You 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.yml
    version: 2

    snapshots:
      - name: orders_snapshot
        +persist_docs:
          relation: true
          columns: true
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