Explain how to perform a full refresh on only a single model without forcing full refresh on all models

[dbeatty10]

Contributions

• I have read the contribution docs, and understand what's expected of me.

To do

• Determine the suggested practices and approaches
• Figure out the best venue(s) to document and share these practices and approaches

Link to the page on docs.getdbt.com requiring updates

Potential pages to update:

• https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/resource-configs/full_refresh
• https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/commands/run#refresh-incremental-models
• https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/commands/build#details
• maybe somewhere else? 🤷

What part(s) of the page would you like to see updated?

Request for documentation

Explain how to perform a full refresh on only a single model without forcing full refresh on all models

Background context

dbt-labs/dbt-core#9082 was looking for an option to build all models, but to fully refresh only one of them.

While we aren't planning to add anything new at this time, dbt-labs/dbt-core#9082 (comment) outlines several ways to accomplish that goal with current capabilities.

Potential options to document

Option 3

This option only alters the source code -- it does not alter any of the commands.

dbt-labs/dbt-core#9082 (comment)

If folks know about it, this option is the fastest way to accomplish the goal for local development.

It is also the easiest for production runs that have all their production commands in source control.

For folks that alter their production commands via a web interface or CLI rather than source control, Option 0 below may be preferable.

Option 0

This option only alters the commands -- it does not alter any source code.

@aBBDnGus expressed preference of this option for their use-case here.

The downsides of this approach is that it is long to type out and it is a one-off solution. i.e., if these commands are added to a production run, then the user would be better off using Option 3 instead.

Since it doesn't require altering source code, this option is easier for folks that are using a web interface or CLI rather than source control for altering the commands executed during a production run.

Additional information

See also

These may be tangentially related:

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/74550798/is-there-a-way-to-force-a-full-refresh-for-a-dbt-incremental-model-if-its-model
• [CT-2609] [Feature] Allow defining a default backfill value for incremental models with constraints dbt-core#7732