Resource type

This means the flags enable you to specify which types of resources to include or exclude when running the commands, instead of targeting specific resources.

Note

The --exclude-resource-type flag is only available in dbt version 1.8 and higher. If you're using older versions, this flag won't be available.

The available resource types are:

• analysis
• exposure
• metric
• model
• saved_query
• seed
• semantic_model
• snapshot
• source
• test
• unit_test

Positive vs negative filters

• --resource-type is a positive filter — dbt only runs the resource types selected in the command, implicitly skipping every other type.
• --exclude-resource-type is a negative filter — dbt starts with the full catalog of resource types and then omits the types selected in the command. dbt runs everything except those resource types.

You can use both flags in a command; dbt first applies the positive filter (--resource-type) and then removes the types listed in the negative filter (--exclude-resource-type). For example:

dbt build --resource-type model test snapshot --exclude-resource-type snapshot

Note that the list of dbt resource types is mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive (MECE). This means that any --resource-type selection can also be achieved by excluding the other resource types using --exclude-resource-type, and vice versa.

Examples

Instead of targeting specific resources, use the --resource-type or --exclude-resource-type flags to target all resources of a certain type: dbt build --resource-type RESOURCE_TYPE, replacing RESOURCE_TYPE with the resource type you want to include.

See the following sample commands for including or excluding resource types. Note that the --exclude-resource-type flag is only available in dbt version 1.8 and higher.

 Include resource types

Include multiple resource types

Use the following command to include multiple resource types such as data tests and models in your build process:

Usage

dbt build --resource-type test model

Include all snapshots

Use the following command to only include snapshots in your dbt build process:

Usage

dbt build --resource-type snapshot

Include all saved queries

Use the following command to only include saved queries with the --resource-type flag:

Usage

dbt build --resource-type saved_query

Include all data tests

Use the following command to only include data tests in your build process:

Usage

dbt build --resource-type test

 Exclude resource types

Exclude multiple resource types

Use the following command to exclude multiple resource types such as data tests and models from your build process:

Usage

dbt build --exclude-resource-type test model

Exclude all unit tests

Use the following command to exclude unit tests from your dbt build process.

Usage

dbt build --exclude-resource-type unit_test