Skip to main content

dbt Cloud tips

The Cloud IDE provides keyboard shortcuts, features, and development tips to help you work faster and be more productive. Use this Cloud IDE cheat sheet to help you quickly reference some common operations.

Cloud IDE Keyboard shortcuts​

There are default keyboard shortcuts that can help make development more productive and easier for everyone.

  • Press Fn-F1 to view a full list of the editor shortcuts
  • Command-O on macOS or Control-O on Windows to select a file to open
  • Command-P/Command-Shift-P on macOS or Control-P/Control-Shift-P on Windows to see the command palette
  • Hold Option-click-on-area or press Shift-Option-Command on macOS or Hold-Alt-click-on-area on Windows to select multiple lines and perform a multi-edit. You can also press Command-E to perform this operation on the command line.
  • Command-Enter on macOS or Control-Enter on Windows to Preview your code
  • Command-Shift-Enter on macOS or Control-Shift-Enter on Windows to Compile
  • Highlight a portion of code and use the above shortcuts to Preview or Compile code
  • Enter two underscores (__) in the IDE to reveal a list of dbt functions
  • Press Control-backtick (or Ctrl + `) to toggle the Invocation history
  • Press Command-Option-forward slash on macOS or Control-Alt-forward slash on Windows on the selected code to add a block comment. SQL files will use the Jinja syntax ({# #}) rather than the SQL one (/* */). Markdown files will use the Markdown syntax (<!-- -->)
  • Option-W on macOS or Alt-W on Windows will close the currently active editor tab

Package tips​

  • Use the dbt_codegen package to help you generate YML files for your models and sources and SQL files for your staging models.
  • The dbt_utils package contains macros useful for daily development. For example, date_spine generates a table with all dates between the ones provided as parameters.
  • The dbt_project_evaluator package compares your dbt project against a list of our best practices and provides suggestions and guidelines on how to update your models.
  • The dbt_expectations package contains many tests beyond those built into dbt Core.
  • The dbt_audit_helper package lets you compare the output of 2 queries. Use it when refactoring existing logic to ensure that the new results are identical.
  • The dbt_artifacts package saves information about your dbt runs directly to your data platform so that you can track the performance of models over time.
  • The dbt_meta_testing package checks that your dbt project is sufficiently tested and documented.

Advanced tips​

  • Use your folder structure as your primary selector method. dbt build --select marts.marketing is simpler and more resilient than relying on tagging every model.
  • Think about jobs in terms of build cadences and SLAs. Run models that have hourly, daily, or weekly build cadences together.
  • Use the where config for tests to test an assertion on a subset of records.
  • store_failures lets you examine records that cause tests to fail, so you can either repair the data or change the test as needed.
  • Use severity thresholds to set an acceptable number of failures for a test.
  • Use incremental_strategy in your incremental model config to implement the most effective behavior depending on the volume of your data and reliability of your unique keys.
  • Set vars in your dbt_project.yml to define global defaults for certain conditions, which you can then override using the --vars flag in your commands.
  • Use for loops in Jinja to DRY up repetitive logic, such as selecting a series of columns that all require the same transformations and naming patterns to be applied.
  • Instead of relying on post-hooks, use the grants config to apply permission grants in the warehouse resiliently.
  • Define source-freshness thresholds on your sources to avoid running transformations on data that has already been processed.
  • Use the + operator on the left of a model dbt build --select +model_name to run a model and all of its upstream dependencies. Use the + operator on the right of the model dbt build --select model_name+ to run a model and everything downstream that depends on it.
  • Use dir_name to run all models in a package or directory.
  • Use the @ operator on the left of a model in a non-state-aware CI setup to test it. This operator runs all of a selection’s parents and children, and also runs the parents of its children, which in a fresh CI schema will likely not exist yet.
  • Use the --exclude flag to remove a subset of models out of a selection.
  • Use the --full-refresh flag to rebuild an incremental model from scratch.
  • Use seeds to create manual lookup tables, like zip codes to states or marketing UTMs to campaigns. dbt seed will build these from CSVs into your warehouse and make them ref able in your models.
  • Use target.name to pivot logic based on what environment you’re using. For example, to build into a single development schema while developing, but use multiple schemas in production.
0
Edit this page