Only run a set of models?

Question

I started to migrate some of your transformations jobs to DBT. As you can see on the image bellow, there is usually 1 to 2 transformations before to have our final table (up to 5 transformations in some cases).

What I am trying to achieve is to do dbt run only for a set on linked model. For instance, sales_prediction and forecast. I am currently able to run either for everything with dbt run or just speficif model using dbt run --select model_name

Exhaust

Docs are your friend: docs.getdbt.com/reference/node-selection/syntax – Lyrist

Answer 1

Dbt allows syntax of

• selecting a node and all nodes it requires (+ before the model name)
• selecting a node and all nodes that depend on it (+ after the model name)
• you can also do both (+model_name+)

In your case dbt run --select +forecast should do the trick

Also check the documentation of the + operator.

Jarrodjarrow

Answer 2

In addition to the + operator, incase you just need to run multiple unrelated models by specifying their names, you can do so as such:

dbt run --select my_first_model my_second_model

Guardsman

You need to add quotation marks: dbt run --select "my_first_model my_second_model" – Leonardaleonardi

No AFAIK quotes are not necessary as they are two distinct unrelated models – Guardsman

Answer 3

In order to run a model as well as its children (aka downstream dependencies), you'll have to specify the model name followed by + operator in the --select argument:

dbt run --select sales_prediction+

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Likewise, to run a model and its parent (or upstream) dependencies, the + operator must be followed by the model name:

dbt run --select +sales_prediction

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You can also run both the upstream and downstream dependencies

dbt run --select +sales_prediction+

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You can even choose the level of depth a specific command will go. For example, the following command will run the model called sales_prediction as well as its first and second level children (downstream tasks).

dbt run --select sales_prediction+2

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There are limitless possibilities when it comes to selecting specific resources in dbt CLI (including models, tests, seeds and snapshots).

Compurgation