dbt allows you to specify a required version of dbt in your dbt_project.yml file using the require-dbt-version key. This feature allows you to ensure that users of your project are running a compatible version of dbt before they run any of the models in your project.
The require-dbt-version key is a string that specifies the minimum version of dbt that is required for the project. The version string should be in the format of X.Y.Z, where X, Y, and Z are integers. For example, require-dbt-version: 0.18.0 means that the project requires at least version 0.18.0 of dbt.
In the event that a user tries to execute the project with an unsupported version of dbt after you’ve configured this option, dbt will provide them an informative error message. This can help package maintainers make sure that users’ dbt versions are compatible with the package, such as dbt-utils. To prevent compatibility concerns from altered behaviour, setting this option may also assist your entire team stay in sync with the same version of dbt for local development.
Example
require-dbt-version: ">=1.0.0" # Double quotes are Fine
require-dbt-version: '>=1.0.0' # So are single quotes
When a user runs dbt in a project directory that has a require-dbt-version key set, dbt will check the version of dbt that the user is running. If the version is lower than the required version, dbt will raise an error and exit.
In dbt_project.yml
require-dbt-version: ">=1.0.0"For example, let’s say you’ve specified require-dbt-version: 0.18.0 in your dbt_project.yml file. If a user tries to run dbt in your project directory with version 0.17.2, they will see an error message that looks like this:
Error: This project requires dbt version 0.18.0 or higher, but you are running version 0.17.2.
This feature is useful for projects that rely on features or bug fixes that were introduced in a specific version of dbt. By specifying a required version, you can ensure that users are running a version of dbt that is compatible with your project.
It is also worth noting that you can also use require-dbt-version to specify a version range of dbt, you can use >=, >, <=, < before the version number.
If you want to pin to a range , in dbt_project.yml
require-dbt-version: [">=1.0.0", "<2.0.0"]OR
require-dbt-version: ">=1.0.0,<2.0.0"In summary, DBT’s require-dbt-version key is used to specify the minimum version of dbt that is required for a project. When a user runs dbt in a project directory that has a require-dbt-version key set, dbt will check the version of dbt that the user is running. If the version is lower than the required version, dbt will raise an error and exit, ensuring that users are running a version of dbt that is compatible with the project.
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