Snapshot configurations

Related documentation

• Snapshots
• The dbt snapshot command

Available configurations

Snapshot-specific configurations

Project file

dbt_project.yml

snapshots:
  <resource-path>:
    +target_schema: <string>
    +target_database: <string>
    +unique_key: <column_name_or_expression>
    +strategy: timestamp | check
    +updated_at: <column_name>
    +check_cols: [<column_name>] | all

Property file

Note: Required snapshot properties will not work when defined in config YAML blocks. We recommend that you define these in dbt_project.yml or a config() block within the snapshot .sql file.

Config block

{{ config(
    target_schema="<string>",
    target_database="<string>",
    unique_key="<column_name_or_expression>",
    strategy="timestamp" | "check",
    updated_at="<column_name>",
    check_cols=["<column_name>"] | "all"
) }}

General configurations

Project file

dbt_project.yml

snapshots:
  <resource-path>:
    +enabled: true | false
    +tags: <string> | [<string>]
    +alias: <string>
    +pre-hook: <sql-statement> | [<sql-statement>]
    +post-hook: <sql-statement> | [<sql-statement>]
    +persist_docs: {<dict>}
    +grants: {<dict>}

Property file

snapshots/properties.yml

version: 2

snapshots:
  - name: [<snapshot-name>]
    config:
      enabled: true | false
      tags: <string> | [<string>]
      alias: <string>
      pre-hook: <sql-statement> | [<sql-statement>]
      post-hook: <sql-statement> | [<sql-statement>]
      persist_docs: {<dict>}
      grants: {<dictionary>}

Config block

{{ config(
    enabled=true | false,
    tags="<string>" | ["<string>"],
    alias="<string>", 
    pre_hook="<sql-statement>" | ["<sql-statement>"],
    post_hook="<sql-statement>" | ["<sql-statement>"]
    persist_docs={<dict>}
    grants={<dict>}
) }}

Configuring snapshots

Snapshots can be configured in one of three ways:

1. Using a config block within a snapshot
2. Using a config resource property in a .yml file
3. From the dbt_project.yml file, under the snapshots: 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

Apply the target_schema configuration 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:
  +target_schema: snapshots

Apply the target_schema configuration to all snapshots in your project

To apply a configuration to all snapshots in your project only (i.e. 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:
    +target_schema: snapshot_data

Similarly, you can use the name of an installed package to configure snapshots in that package.

Apply configurations to one snapshot only

We recommend using config blocks if you need to apply a configuration to one snapshot only.

snapshots/postgres_app/orders_snapshot.sql

{% snapshot orders_snapshot %}
    {{
        config(
          unique_key='id',
          strategy='timestamp',
          updated_at='updated_at'
        )
    }}
    -- Pro-Tip: Use sources in snapshots!
    select * from {{ source('jaffle_shop', 'orders') }}
{% endsnapshot %}

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
    config:
      persist_docs:
        relation: true
        columns: true