Skip to main content

About dbt lint command Beta

dbt lint is a high-performance SQL linter built into the dbt platform. It is SQLFluff-compatible: it reads your .sqlfluff config, uses the same rule codes (for example, CP01, RF03), and respects -- noqa suppression comments.

You can use your existing SQLFluff config with minimal changes. dbt Labs intends to track the latest SQLFluff rule spec going forward.

note

dbt lint is part of the dbt Fusion engine. It is not the same as dbt sqlfluff lint on the dbt CLI. For SQLFluff on the platform CLI, see Configure the dbt CLI. Linting in Studio IDE continues to use SQLFluff at this time.

Benchmarks​

Across project sizes from 1k to 10k models, dbt lint runs 40×–250× faster than SQLFluff with all cores enabled and 280×–1500× faster than single-threaded SQLFluff.

dbt Labs ran these benchmarks on SQLFluff 4.2.1 against dbt projects on the Snowflake dialect, ranging from 1k to 10k models, on a MacBook Pro with a 12-core Apple M4 Pro and 24 GB of RAM.

Usage​

dbt lint [FILE] [flags]

[FILE] is optional. When you omit [FILE], dbt lint lints all SQL files in your project.

Flags​

FlagDescription
--fixAutomatically apply fixes for auto-fixable rule violations. See Rules without autofix for rules that cannot be fixed automatically.
--config <path>Path to a .sqlfluff config file. Overrides auto-discovery.
--rulesComma-separated list of rule codes to enable. Overrides config.
--exclude-rulesComma-separated list of rule codes to disable. Overrides config.
--changedLint only files modified in the current git working tree.
--format human|json|github-annotationOutput format. Defaults to human. Use json for machine-readable output or github-annotation for GitHub Actions integration.
Loading table...

Configuration​

dbt lint auto-discovers the nearest .sqlfluff file in your project directory tree. CLI flags --rules and --exclude-rules take precedence over the values in the config file. To create a .sqlfluff file, see SQLFluff configuration files.

Suppressing violations​

dbt lint supports the full SQLFluff suppression syntax:

SuppressionScope
-- noqaSuppress all violations on the line
-- noqa: CP01, RF03Suppress specific rules on this line
-- noqa-fileSuppress all violations in the file
-- sqlfluff:disable CP01Disable a rule in the file
Loading table...

Supported dialects​

The following dialects are currently supported with dbt lint:

  • Snowflake
  • BigQuery
  • DuckDB
  • Redshift
  • Databricks
  • SparkSQL (currently aliased to Databricks)

Additional dialect support is coming soon.

Beta limitations​

Keep these limitations in mind:

Layout rules​

dbt lint doesn't currently issue layout (LT*) warnings. Layout enforcement will ship as a separate subcommand, dbt fmt (coming soon), which will format code to your layout policy rather than warn. This keeps lint output focused on correctness and style issues that require human intervention, while layout becomes a formatting step.

Rules without autofix​

The following rules report violations but can't be auto-fixed by --fix. They require reordering of SQL fragments or broader reflow that source-mapping (based on macro_spans) can't safely fix inside Jinja-templated SQL:

  • Aliasing: AL03, AL04, AL06, AL08
  • References: RF01, RF02, RF04, RF05
  • Structure: ST03, ST04, ST05, ST06, ST07, ST09, ST10, ST11
  • Ambiguity / convention: AM01, AM06, CV08, CV09, CV12

Single fix pass​

--fix runs a single pass; it doesn't iterate until the file is clean. A fix applied by one rule can expose a violation from another rule on the next run. For example, AL09 removes a self-alias, which may then cause RF02 to flag the now-unqualified reference. Re-run dbt lint --fix until the output is clean.

Feedback​

If you encounter unexpected behavior or have suggestions, open an issue in the dbt-core GitHub repository and apply the Linter label.

Was this page helpful?

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

0
Loading