DBT DBT Deployment & CI/CD

Question 1

What is the purpose of dbt Cloud's Slim CI feature?

Accepted Answer

Runs only models that have changed since the last successful job

Answer

Slim CI uses the `state:modified` selector with a deferred environment to run only the models impacted by a pull request, saving time and cost.

Question 2

Which selector is used in dbt to run only models that differ from a previous state manifest?

Accepted Answer

--select state:modified

Answer

`state:modified` compares the project against a baseline manifest.json to identify nodes with code or config changes.

Question 3

What environment variable or flag tells dbt where to find the baseline manifest for state comparison?

Accepted Answer

--state or DBT_STATE

Answer

The `--state` flag (or `DBT_STATE` env var) specifies the directory containing the `manifest.json` to use as the comparison baseline.

Question 4

In a dbt Cloud job, what does enabling 'Generate docs' do?

Accepted Answer

Runs `dbt docs generate` to refresh the catalog artifact after the run

Answer

The 'Generate docs' toggle appends a `dbt docs generate` step to the job, refreshing the catalog.json and making docs available in dbt Cloud.

Question 5

Which dbt Core command compiles SQL without executing it against the warehouse?

Accepted Answer

dbt compile

Answer

`dbt compile` resolves all Jinja and ref/source calls and writes the compiled SQL to the `target/compiled/` directory without running queries.

DBT - Certified Data Build Tool Developer Practice Test