Models

Configuration

MODEL() header fields and SQL-analysis controls.

Common fields

Field	Description
`materialized`	`view`, `table`, `incremental`, `snapshot`, or a custom materialization name
`tags`	Tags used by selectors
`description`	Human-readable model description
`columns`	Model-local column declarations or inherited-column audit augmentation
`model_schema`	Reusable column schema name
`audits`	Model-level audit instances
`enums`	Model-local enum declarations; names must begin with `_`
`constants`	Model-local scalar, list, set, or object constants; names must begin with `_`. Use `constant(...)` for an explicit decimal type or collection rendering override.
`schema`	Destination warehouse schema override
`database`	Destination database override
`alias`	Destination relation-name override
`pre_hooks`	Ordered `inline_sql(...)`, `sql("name", ...)`, or `python("name", ...)` hooks before materialization
`post_hooks`	Ordered `inline_sql(...)`, `sql("name", ...)`, or `python("name", ...)` hooks after materialization
`enabled`	Set to `false` to disable the model
`contract`	`none` for an open statically checked declaration, or `enforced` for an exact declaration
`sql_analysis`	Per-model SQL-analysis override

SQL analysis

SQL analysis has project, invocation, and model gates:

settings.sql_analysis must be enabled.
--no-sql-analysis must not be present.
MODEL (sql_analysis false) can disable analysis for that model. If omitted, the project setting is used.

A model cannot re-enable analysis when either broader gate disables it. The older sql_validation and --no-sql-validation spellings remain compatibility aliases; use sql_analysis for new configuration.

Table fields

Field	Description
`run_despite_unchanged`	Table-only change-aware policy. `always` rebuilds whenever selected. A duration such as `30d`, `12h`, or `90m` rebuilds while the newest timestamp-based upstream source observation is within that age; it is not a periodic schedule.

Table promotion mode is a project setting rather than a MODEL() field. Staged promotion is the default. Immediate promotion is incompatible with model type enforcement and exact contracts; see Materializations.

Incremental fields

Field	Description
`incremental_strategy`	`append`, `delete_insert`, or `merge`
`cursor`	Output column used to track incremental position
`cursor_type`	`timestamp` or `integer`
`cursor_grain`	Timestamp grain such as `second`, `hour`, or `day`
`cursor_start`	Lower cursor bound
`cursor_inputs`	Upstream names mapped to cursor columns
`unique_key`	Merge or delete/insert matching columns
`incremental_mode`	Set to `microbatch` for batched execution
`microbatch_strategy`	Required in microbatch mode: `watermark` or `rolling_window`
`cursor_watermark_mode`	Watermark strategy policy: `all` or `any`
`batch_size`	Timestamp duration string such as `1d` or `1h`; use a numeric string such as `"1000"` for an integer cursor
`batch_concurrency`	Concurrent batch workers; values above `1` require `delete_insert` and the project concurrency gate
`microbatch_limit`	Nested `max_batches` and `action` policy for watermark execution
`lookback`	Backward replay extension
`append_cursor_inclusive`	Include (`true`, default) or exclude (`false`) the current append-cursor boundary
`merge_exclude_columns`	Columns left unchanged by matched-row merge updates
`full_refresh`	Optional model execution override: `false` always runs incrementally, `true` always full-refreshes, and omission follows the command
`on_schema_change`	`append_new_columns`, `sync_all_columns`, `ignore`, or `fail`
`replay_on_change`	`forward`, `full`, or `bounded-<duration>`
`migrate_from`	Old model name (or `schema.name`) whose data this model takes over; see Model migrations. Also valid on snapshot models
`migrate_force`	`true` replaces a destination that already has its own build history during a migration

See Incremental for full semantics.

Current compatibility behavior treats an unrecognized on_schema_change value as the default append_new_columns policy and an unrecognized replay_on_change value as forward. Use the documented values exactly; future validation may reject unknown values instead of applying these fallbacks.

Snapshot fields

Field	Description
`unique_key`	Columns identifying one logical record
`snapshot_strategy`	`timestamp` or `check`
`updated_at`	Source update timestamp for the timestamp strategy
`check_columns`	Columns compared by the check strategy, or `[*]`
`observed_at`	Observation timestamp for historical inputs
`historical_input`	`snapshot` or `changes`
`initial_valid_from`	Initial validity policy for first-seen rows
`invalidate_hard_deletes`	Close records that disappear from current-state input
`valid_from_column`	Override the generated valid-from column name
`valid_to_column`	Override the generated valid-to column name
`snapshot_full_refresh`	Snapshot full-refresh safety policy
`snapshot_schema_change`	Snapshot schema-change policy

See Snapshots for strategy combinations, defaults, and safety behavior.

Custom materialization fields

Field	Description
`config`	Arbitrary values passed to `ctx.config`
`placeholders`	Defaults for runtime `@@@placeholder` tokens

Diff fields

Field	Description
`row_diff_exclude_columns`	Columns excluded from row-level comparison
`row_diff_tolerances`	Numeric comparison tolerances
`row_diff_sample_rows`	Deterministic unique-key sample size; `0` disables inherited sampling
`row_diff_sample_seed`	Integer seed used for deterministic key hashing