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About dbt ls (list) command

The dbt ls command lists resources in your dbt project. It accepts selector arguments that are similar to those provided in dbt run. dbt list is an alias for dbt ls. While dbt ls will read your connection profile to resolve target-specific logic, this command will not connect to your database or run any queries.

Usage​

dbt ls
     [--resource-type {model,semantic_model,source,seed,snapshot,metric,test,exposure,analysis,default,all}]
     [--select SELECTION_ARG [SELECTION_ARG ...]]
     [--models SELECTOR [SELECTOR ...]]
     [--exclude SELECTOR [SELECTOR ...]]
     [--selector YML_SELECTOR_NAME]
     [--output {json,name,path,selector}]
     [--output-keys KEY_NAME [KEY_NAME]]

See resource selection syntax for more information on how to select resources in dbt

Arguments:

  • --resource-type: This flag restricts the "resource types" returned by dbt in the dbt ls command. By default, all resource types are included in the results of dbt ls except for the analysis type.
  • --select: This flag specifies one or more selection-type arguments used to filter the nodes returned by the dbt ls command
  • --models: Like the --select flag, this flag is used to select nodes. It implies --resource-type=model, and will only return models in the results of the dbt ls command. Supported for backwards compatibility only.
  • --exclude: Specify selectors that should be excluded from the list of returned nodes.
  • --selector: This flag specifies one named selector, defined in a selectors.yml file.
  • --output: This flag controls the format of output from the dbt ls command.
  • --output-keys: If --output json, this flag controls which node properties are included in the output.

Note that the dbt ls command does not include models which are disabled or schema tests which depend on models which are disabled. All returned resources will have a config.enabled value of true.

Example usage​

Listing models by package

$ dbt ls --select snowplow.*
snowplow.snowplow_base_events
snowplow.snowplow_base_web_page_context
snowplow.snowplow_id_map
snowplow.snowplow_page_views
snowplow.snowplow_sessions
...

Listing tests by tag name

$ dbt ls --select tag:nightly --resource-type test
my_project.schema_test.not_null_orders_order_id
my_project.schema_test.unique_orders_order_id
my_project.schema_test.not_null_products_product_id
my_project.schema_test.unique_products_product_id
...

Listing schema tests of incremental models

$ dbt ls --select config.materialized:incremental,test_type:schema
model.my_project.logs_parsed
model.my_project.events_categorized

Listing JSON output

$ dbt ls --select snowplow.* --output json
{"name": "snowplow_events", "resource_type": "model", "package_name": "snowplow",  ...}
{"name": "snowplow_page_views", "resource_type": "model", "package_name": "snowplow",  ...}
...

Listing JSON output with custom keys

$ dbt ls --select snowplow.* --output json --output-keys "name resource_type description"
{"name": "snowplow_events", "description": "This is a pretty cool model",  ...}
{"name": "snowplow_page_views", "description": "This model is even cooler",  ...}
...

Listing Semantic models

List all resources upstream of your orders semantic model:

dbt ls -s +semantic_model:orders

Listing file paths

dbt ls --select snowplow.* --output path
models/base/snowplow_base_events.sql
models/base/snowplow_base_web_page_context.sql
models/identification/snowplow_id_map.sql
...
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