Step Snap 1 [In-Depth dbt-codegen Tutorial]

1. What is dbt-codegen?

dbt-codegen is a powerful dbt extension package that helps us automatically generate various dbt code, significantly improving development efficiency. Simply put, it acts as an intelligent assistant that can help us generate:

• Data source definitions (source)
• Base models (base model)
• Model documentation (model YAML)
• Import statements (import CTEs)

2. Installation and Configuration

Let's start with the basics of installation:

1. Find the packages.yml file in your dbt project (create one if it doesn't exist)
2. Add the following content:

packages:
  - package: dbt-labs/codegen
    version: 0.9.0  # Use the latest version

1. Run dbt deps to install the package

3. Core Features Explained

3.1 Generating Source Definitions (generate_source)

This is one of the most commonly used features that can automatically scan the database to generate source definitions.

Basic usage:

{{ codegen.generate_source('raw_schema_name') }}

Advanced usage: