sqb plan

Shows the execution plan without making any changes. Useful for inspecting change detection, backfill policies, and selector scope before building.

Usage

sqb --project-dir <path> plan [flags]

Flags

Flag	Description
`--no-sql-validation`	Skip compile-time SQL syntax validation
`--changes-only`	Narrow the plan to only stale models; prune anything already current
`--no-python`	Exclude read-side Python tasks and assets from the plan
`--defer-to`	Resolve unselected model references against another target
`--json`	Output the plan as JSON
`--full-refresh`	Plan a full rebuild of all selected models
`--start-cursor-ts`	Override start cursor for timestamp incremental models (ISO format)
`--end-cursor-ts`	Override end cursor for timestamp incremental models (ISO format)
`--start-cursor-int`	Override start cursor for integer incremental models
`--end-cursor-int`	Override end cursor for integer incremental models
`--select`, `-s`	Select specific models
`--exclude`	Exclude specific models

Output

First run:

Plan ready (13 selected)

First run (12)
  stg_customers               view
  stg_payments                view
  stg_orders                  view
  daily_order_partitioned     partition_tracked (custom)
  daily_revenue               table
  dim_customers               table
  fact_orders                 table
  customer_status_snapshot    merge (timestamp)
  hourly_order_activity       delete_insert (timestamp, microbatch)
  daily_activity_rollup       delete_insert (timestamp, microbatch)
  hourly_activity_with_daily_context delete_insert (timestamp, microbatch)
  order_status_index          delete_insert (integer)

Seeds (1)
  waffle_types

Steady state:

Plan ready (13 selected)

Normal (12)
    3 view
    3 table
    3 delete_insert (timestamp, microbatch)
    1 partition_tracked (custom)
    1 merge (timestamp)
    1 delete_insert (integer)

Seeds (1)
  waffle_types

When query or schema changes are detected, the plan shows the affected models with backfill actions and cascade information.

Missing upstream dependencies

Planning a scoped selection whose upstream inputs were never built in the target fails with S301 rather than producing a plan that would break at build time:

error[S301]: cannot build selected scope: 3 missing upstream dependencies (stg_orders, stg_payments, waffle_types)

Build the upstream chain first, or select it along with the model: sqb build --select +fact_orders. On targets with reuse_from configured, missing upstream inputs can instead be cloned from the reuse origin.

Getting Started

dbt Compatibility

Concepts

Python Nodes

Virtual Environments (Alpha)

Integrations

CLI Reference

plan

sqb plan

Usage

Flags

Output

Missing upstream dependencies

​sqb plan

​Usage

​Flags

​Output

​Missing upstream dependencies

sqb plan

Usage

Flags

Output

Missing upstream dependencies