# JSON artifacts

### Write JSON artifacts

The `WRITE_JSON` config determines whether dbt writes [JSON artifacts](../artifacts/dbt-artifacts.md) (for example, `manifest.json`, `run_results.json`) to the `target/` directory. JSON serialization can be slow, and turning this flag off *might* make invocations of dbt faster. Alternatively, you can disable this config to perform a dbt operation and avoid overwriting artifacts from a previous run step.

Usage

```text
dbt run --no-write-json 
```

### Target path

By default, dbt will write JSON artifacts and compiled SQL files to a directory named `target/`. This directory is located relative to `dbt_project.yml` of the active project.

Just like other global configs, it is possible to override these values for your environment or invocation by using the CLI option (`--target-path`) or environment variables ((Applies to dbt v1.11 and later) `DBT_ENGINE_TARGET_PATH`).

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