DBT DBT Core Concepts & Architecture 3

Question 1

What does the `--full-refresh` flag do when running incremental models?

Accepted Answer

Forces dbt to drop and recreate the incremental model as a full table

Answer

Refreshes only the most recent partition of the incremental model

Answer

Clears the dbt cache and recompiles all Jinja templates

Answer

Resets the incremental model's unique key column to null

Question 2

What is a dbt adapter?

Accepted Answer

A plugin that allows dbt to connect to and compile SQL for a specific data platform

Answer

A Jinja macro that adapts SQL syntax between different models

Answer

A configuration block that adapts profile settings to different environments

Answer

A dbt package that provides pre-built transformations for specific industries

Question 3

What does the `vars` block in `dbt_project.yml` enable?

Accepted Answer

Defining project-wide variables accessible via the `var()` function

Answer

Declaring Jinja macros reusable across all models

Answer

Specifying environment-specific database connection settings

Answer

Listing all test types available for schema validation

Question 4

Which materialization type creates a permanent, physically stored table in the data warehouse on every run?

Accepted Answer

table

Answer

view

Answer

ephemeral

Answer

incremental

Question 5

What is the purpose of the `manifest.json` file generated by dbt?

Accepted Answer

Contains a complete representation of the dbt project including all nodes and their relationships

Answer

Stores the raw SQL output of every compiled model

Answer

Logs execution times and row counts for each model run

Answer

Defines the schema and column types for all target tables

Question 6

When using dbt Core, which directory stores compiled SQL and run artifacts by default?

Accepted Answer

target/

Answer

logs/

Answer

compiled/

Answer

artifacts/

Question 7

What information does `run_results.json` contain after a dbt invocation?

Accepted Answer

Execution metadata such as model status, timing, and row counts from the last dbt invocation

Answer

The connection credentials used during the run

Answer

A list of all tests that passed during the most recent test run

Answer

The model selection criteria used for the current run