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Configuration guide

SQLMesh's behavior is determined by three things: a project's files (e.g., models), user actions (e.g., creating a plan), and how SQLMesh is configured.

This page describes how SQLMesh configuration works and discusses the aspects of SQLMesh behavior that can be modified via configuration.

The configuration reference page contains concise lists of all configuration parameters and their default values.

Configuration files

NOTE: SQLMesh project configurations have the following two requirements:

  1. A config.yaml or config.py file must be present in the project's folder.
  2. That configuration file must contain a default SQL dialect for the project's models in the model_defaults dialect key.

SQLMesh configuration parameters can be set as environment variables, in a configuration file in the ~/.sqlmesh folder, and in the configuration file within a project folder.

The sources have the following order of precedence:

  1. Environment variable (e.g., SQLMESH__MODEL_DEFAULTS__DIALECT). [HIGHEST PRECEDENCE]
  2. config.yaml or config.py in the ~/.sqlmesh folder.
  3. config.yaml or config.py in a project folder. [LOWEST PRECEDENCE]

File type

You can specify a SQLMesh configuration in either YAML or Python.

YAML configuration is simpler, and we recommend it for most projects. Python configuration is more complex, but it enables functionality that YAML does not support.

Because Python configuration files are evaluated by Python when SQLMesh reads them, they support dynamic parameters based on the computational environment in which SQLMesh is running.

For example, Python configuration files enable use of third-party secrets managers for storing passwords and other sensitive information. They also support user-specific parameters such as automatically setting project defaults based on which user account is running SQLMesh.

YAML

YAML configuration files consist of configuration keys and values. Strings are not quoted, and some keys are "dictionaries" that contain one or more sub-keys.

For example, the default_gateway key specifies the default gateway SQLMesh should use when executing commands. It takes a single, unquoted gateway name as its value:

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default_gateway: local

In contrast, the gateways key takes dictionaries as values, and each gateway dictionary contains one or more connection dictionaries. This example specifies the my_gateway gateway with a Snowflake connection:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    connection:
      type: snowflake
      user: <username>
      password: <password>
      account: <account>

Gateway dictionaries can contain multiple connection dictionaries if different SQLMesh components should use different connections (e.g., SQLMesh tests should run in a different database than SQLMesh plans). See the gateways section for more information on gateway configuration.

Python

Python configuration files consist of statements that import SQLMesh configuration classes and a configuration specification using those classes.

At minimum, a Python configuration file must:

  1. Create an object of the SQLMesh Config class named config
  2. Specify that object's model_defaults argument with a ModelDefaultsConfig() object specifying the default SQL dialect for the project's models

For example, this minimal configuration specifies a default SQL dialect of duckdb and uses the default values for all other configuration parameters:

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from sqlmesh.core.config import Config, ModelDefaultsConfig

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect="duckdb"),
)

Python configuration files may optionally define additional configuration objects and switch between the configurations when issuing sqlmesh commands. For example, if a configuration file contained a second configuration object my_second_config, you could create a plan using that config with sqlmesh --config my_second_config plan.

Different Config arguments accept different object types. Some, such as model_defaults, take SQLMesh configuration objects. Others, such as default_gateway, take strings or other Python object types like dictionaries.

SQLMesh's Python configuration components are documented in the sqlmesh.core.config module's API documentation.

The config sub-module API documentation describes the individual classes used for the relevant Config arguments:

See the notifications guide for more information about user and notification specification.

Environment variables

All software runs within a system environment that stores information as "environment variables."

SQLMesh can access environment variables during configuration, which enables approaches like storing passwords/secrets outside the configuration file and changing configuration parameters dynamically based on which user is running SQLMesh.

You can use environment variables in two ways: specifying them in the configuration file or creating properly named variables to override configuration file values.

Configuration file

This section demonstrates using environment variables in YAML and Python configuration files.

The examples specify a Snowflake connection whose password is stored in an environment variable SNOWFLAKE_PW.

Specify environment variables in a YAML configuration with the syntax {{ env_var('<ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE NAME>') }}. Note that the environment variable name is contained in single quotes.

Access the SNOWFLAKE_PW environment variable in a Snowflake connection configuration like this:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    connection:
      type: snowflake
      user: <username>
      password: {{ env_var('SNOWFLAKE_PW') }}
      account: <account>

Python accesses environment variables via the os library's environ dictionary.

Access the SNOWFLAKE_PW environment variable in a Snowflake connection configuration like this:

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import os
from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
    SnowflakeConnectionConfig
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            connection=SnowflakeConnectionConfig(
                user=<username>,
                password=os.environ['SNOWFLAKE_PW'],
                account=<account>,
            ),
        ),
    }
)

Overrides

Environment variables have the highest precedence among configuration methods, as noted above. They will automatically override configuration file specifications if they follow a specific naming structure.

The structure is based on the names of the configuration fields, with double underscores __ between the field names. The environment variable name must begin with SQLMESH__, followed by the YAML field names starting at the root and moving downward in the hierarchy.

For example, we can override the password specified in a Snowflake connection. This is the YAML specification contained in our configuration file, which specifies a password dummy_pw:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    connection:
      type: snowflake
      user: <username>
      password: dummy_pw
      account: <account>

We can override the dummy_pw value with the true password real_pw by creating the environment variable. This example demonstrates creating the variable with the bash export function:

$ export SQLMESH__GATEWAYS__MY_GATEWAY__CONNECTION__PASSWORD="real_pw"

After the initial string SQLMESH__, the environment variable name components move down the key hierarchy in the YAML specification: GATEWAYS --> MY_GATEWAY --> CONNECTION --> PASSWORD.

Configuration types

A SQLMesh project configuration is hierarchical and consists of root level parameters within which other parameters are defined.

Conceptually, we can group the root level parameters into the following types. Each type links to its table of parameters in the SQLMesh configuration reference page:

  1. Project - configuration options for SQLMesh project directories.
  2. Environment - configuration options for SQLMesh environment creation/promotion, physical table schemas, and view schemas.
  3. Gateways - configuration options for how SQLMesh should connect to the data warehouse, state backend, and scheduler.
  4. Gateway/connection defaults - configuration options for what should happen when gateways or connections are not all explicitly specified.
  5. Model defaults - configuration options for what should happen when model-specific configurations are not explicitly specified in a model's file.
  6. Debug mode - configuration option for SQLMesh to print and log actions and full backtraces.

Configuration details

The rest of this page provides additional detail for some of the configuration options and provides brief examples. Comprehensive lists of configuration options are at the configuration reference page.

Table/view storage locations

SQLMesh creates schemas, physical tables, and views in the data warehouse/engine. Learn more about why and how SQLMesh creates schema in the "Why does SQLMesh create schemas?" FAQ.

The default SQLMesh behavior described in the FAQ is appropriate for most deployments, but you can override where SQLMesh creates physical tables and views with the physical_schema_mapping, environment_suffix_target, and environment_catalog_mapping configuration options. These options are in the environments section of the configuration reference page.

Physical table schemas

By default, SQLMesh creates physical tables for a model with a naming convention of sqlmesh__[model schema].

This can be overridden on a per-schema basis using the physical_schema_mapping option, which removes the sqlmesh__ prefix and uses the regex pattern you provide to map the schemas defined in your model to their corresponding physical schemas.

This example configuration overrides the default physical schemas for the my_schema model schema and any model schemas starting with dev:

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physical_schema_mapping:
  '^my_schema$': my_new_schema,
  '^dev.*': development

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from sqlmesh.core.config import Config, ModelDefaultsConfig

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    physical_schema_mapping={
        "^my_schema$": "my_new_schema",
        '^dev.*': "development"
    },
)

This config causes the following mapping behaviour:

Model name Default physical location Resolved physical location
my_schema.my_table sqlmesh__my_schema.table_<fingerprint> my_new_schema.table_<fingerprint>
dev_schema.my_table sqlmesh__dev_schema.table_<fingerprint> development.table_<fingerprint>
other.my_table sqlmesh__other.table_<fingerprint> sqlmesh__other.table_<fingerprint>

This only applies to the physical tables that SQLMesh creates - the views are still created in my_schema (prod) or my_schema__<env>.

Disable environment-specific schemas

SQLMesh stores prod environment views in the schema in a model's name - for example, the prod views for a model my_schema.users will be located in my_schema.

By default, for non-prod environments SQLMesh creates a new schema that appends the environment name to the model name's schema. For example, by default the view for a model my_schema.users in a SQLMesh environment named dev will be located in the schema my_schema__dev.

This behavior can be changed to append a suffix at the end of a table/view name instead. Appending the suffix to a table/view name means that non-prod environment views will be created in the same schema as the prod environment. The prod and non-prod views are differentiated by non-prod view names ending with __<env>.

For example, if you created a dev environment for a project containing a model named my_schema.users, the model view would be created as my_schema.users__dev instead of the default behavior of my_schema__dev.users.

Config example:

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environment_suffix_target: table

The Python environment_suffix_target argument takes an EnvironmentSuffixTarget enumeration with a value of EnvironmentSuffixTarget.TABLE or EnvironmentSuffixTarget.SCHEMA (default).

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from sqlmesh.core.config import Config, ModelDefaultsConfig, EnvironmentSuffixTarget

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    environment_suffix_target=EnvironmentSuffixTarget.TABLE,
)

The default behavior of appending the suffix to schemas is recommended because it leaves production with a single clean interface for accessing the views. However, if you are deploying SQLMesh in an environment with tight restrictions on schema creation then this can be a useful way of reducing the number of schemas SQLMesh uses.

Environment view catalogs

By default, SQLMesh creates an environment view in the same catalog as the physical table the view points to. The physical table's catalog is determined by either the catalog specified in the model name or the default catalog defined in the connection.

Some companies fully segregate prod and non-prod environment objects by catalog. For example, they might have a "prod" catalog that contains all prod environment physical tables and views and a separate "dev" catalog that contains all dev environment physical tables and views.

Separate prod and non-prod catalogs can also be useful if you have a CI/CD pipeline that creates environments, like the SQLMesh Github Actions CI/CD Bot. You might want to store the CI/CD environment objects in a dedicated catalog since there can be many of them.

To configure separate catalogs, provide a mapping from regex patterns to catalog names. SQLMesh will compare the name of an environment to the regex patterns; when it finds a match it will store the environment's objects in the corresponding catalog.

SQLMesh evaluates the regex patterns in the order defined in the configuration; it uses the catalog for the first matching pattern. If no match is found, the catalog defined in the model or the default catalog defined on the connection will be used.

Config example:

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environment_catalog_mapping:
  '^prod$': prod
  '^dev.*': dev
  '^analytics_repo.*': cicd

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from sqlmesh.core.config import Config, ModelDefaultsConfig

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    environment_catalog_mapping={
        '^prod$': 'prod',
        '^dev.*': 'dev',
        '^analytics_repo.*': 'cicd',
    },
)

With the example configuration above, SQLMesh would evaluate environment names as follows:

  • If the environment name is prod, the catalog will be prod.
  • If the environment name starts with dev, the catalog will be dev.
  • If the environment name starts with analytics_repo, the catalog will be cicd.

Note: This feature is only available for engines that support querying across catalogs. At the time of writing, the following engines are NOT supported:

Regex Tips
  • If you are less familiar with regex, you can use a tool like regex101 to help you build your regex patterns.
    • LLMs, like ChatGPT, can help with generating regex patterns. Make sure to validate the suggestion in regex101.
  • If you are wanting to do an exact word match then surround it with ^ and $ like in the example above.
  • If you want a catch-all at the end of your mapping, to avoid ever using the model catalog or default catalog, then use .* as the pattern. This will match any environment name that hasn't already been matched.

Auto-categorize model changes

SQLMesh compares the current state of project files to an environment when sqlmesh plan is run. It detects changes to models, which can be classified as breaking or non-breaking.

SQLMesh can attempt to automatically categorize the changes it detects. The plan.auto_categorize_changes option determines whether SQLMesh should attempt automatic change categorization. This option is in the environments section of the configuration reference page.

Supported values:

  • full: Never prompt the user for input, instead fall back to the most conservative category (breaking) if the category can't be determined automatically.
  • semi: Prompt the user for input only if the change category can't be determined automatically.
  • off: Always prompt the user for input; automatic categorization will not be attempted.

Example showing default values:

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plan:
  auto_categorize_changes:
    external: full
    python: off
    sql: full
    seed: full

The Python auto_categorize_changes argument takes CategorizerConfig object. That object's arguments take an AutoCategorizationMode enumeration with values of AutoCategorizationMode.FULL, AutoCategorizationMode.SEMI, or AutoCategorizationMode.OFF.

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    AutoCategorizationMode,
    CategorizerConfig,
    PlanConfig,
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    plan=PlanConfig(
        auto_categorize_changes=CategorizerConfig(
            external=AutoCategorizationMode.FULL,
            python=AutoCategorizationMode.OFF,
            sql=AutoCategorizationMode.FULL,
            seed=AutoCategorizationMode.FULL,
        )
    ),
)

Gateways

The gateways configuration defines how SQLMesh should connect to the data warehouse, state backend, and scheduler. These options are in the gateway section of the configuration reference page.

Each gateway key represents a unique gateway name and configures its connections. For example, this configures the my_gateway gateway:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    connection:
      ...
    state_connection:
      ...
    test_connection:
      ...
    scheduler:
      ...

The Python gateways argument takes a dictionary of gateway names and GatewayConfig objects. A GatewayConfig's connection-related arguments take an engine-specific connection config object, and the scheduler argument takes a scheduler config object.

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
    ...
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            connection=...,
            state_connection=...,
            test_connection=...,
            scheduler=...,
        ),
    }
)

Gateways do not need to specify all four components in the example above. The gateway defaults options control what happens if they are not all specified - find more information on gateway defaults below.

Connections

The connection configuration controls the data warehouse connection. These options are in the connection section of the configuration reference page.

The allowed keys include:

  • The optional concurrent_tasks key specifies the maximum number of concurrent tasks SQLMesh will run. Default value is 4 for engines that support concurrent tasks.
  • Most keys are specific to the connection engine type - see below. The default data warehouse connection type is an in-memory DuckDB database.

Example snowflake connection configuration:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    connection:
      type: snowflake
      user: <username>
      password: <password>
      account: <account>

A Snowflake connection is specified with a SnowflakeConnectionConfig object.

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
    SnowflakeConnectionConfig
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            connection=SnowflakeConnectionConfig(
                user=<username>,
                password=<password>,
                account=<account>,
            ),
        ),
    }
)

Engine connection configuration

These pages describe the connection configuration options for each execution engine.

State connection

Configuration for the state backend connection if different from the data warehouse connection.

The data warehouse connection is used to store SQLMesh state if the state_connection key is not specified, unless the configuration uses an Airflow or Google Cloud Composer scheduler. If using one of those schedulers, the scheduler's database is used (not the data warehouse) unless an Airflow Connection has been configured.

Unlike data transformations, storing state information requires database transactions. Data warehouses aren’t optimized for executing transactions, and storing state information in them can slow down your project or produce corrupted data due to simultaneous writes to the same table. Therefore, production SQLMesh deployments should use a dedicated state connection.

Note

Using the same connection for data warehouse and state is not recommended for production deployments of SQLMesh.

The easiest and most reliable way to manage your state connection is for Tobiko Cloud to do it for you. If you'd rather handle it yourself, we list recommended and unsupported state engines below.

Recommended state engines for production deployments:

Other state engines with fast and reliable database transactions (less tested than the recommended engines):

Unsupported state engines, even for development:

This example gateway configuration uses Snowflake for the data warehouse connection and Postgres for the state backend connection:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    connection:
      # snowflake credentials here
      type: snowflake
      user: <username>
      password: <password>
      account: <account>
    state_connection:
      # postgres credentials here
      type: postgres
      host: <host>
      port: <port>
      user: <username>
      password: <password>
      database: <database>

A Postgres connection is specified with a PostgresConnectionConfig object.

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
    PostgresConnectionConfig,
    SnowflakeConnectionConfig
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            # snowflake credentials here
            connection=SnowflakeConnectionConfig(
                user=<username>,
                password=<password>,
                account=<account>,
            ),
            # postgres credentials here
            state_connection=PostgresConnectionConfig(
                host=<host>,
                port=<port>,
                user=<username>,
                password=<password>,
                database=<database>,
            ),
        ),
    }
)

State schema name

By default, the schema name used to store state tables is sqlmesh. This can be changed by providing the state_schema config key in the gateway configuration.

Example configuration to store state information in a postgres database's custom_name schema:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    state_connection:
      type: postgres
      host: <host>
      port: <port>
      user: <username>
      password: <password>
      database: <database>
    state_schema: custom_name

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
    PostgresConnectionConfig
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            state_connection=PostgresConnectionConfig(
                host=<host>,
                port=<port>,
                user=<username>,
                password=<password>,
                database=<database>,
            ),
            state_schema="custom_name",
        ),
    }
)

This would create all state tables in the schema custom_name.

Test connection

Configuration for a connection used to run unit tests. An in-memory DuckDB database is used if the test_connection key is not specified.

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    test_connection:
      type: duckdb

A DuckDB connection is specified with a DuckDBConnectionConfig object. A DuckDBConnectionConfig with no arguments specified uses an in-memory DuckDB database.

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
    DuckDBConnectionConfig
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            test_connection=DuckDBConnectionConfig(),
        ),
    }
)

Scheduler

Identifies which scheduler backend to use. The scheduler backend is used both for storing metadata and for executing plans. By default, the scheduler type is set to builtin, which uses the existing SQL engine to store metadata. Use the airflow type integrate with Airflow.

These options are in the scheduler section of the configuration reference page.

Builtin

Example configuration:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    scheduler:
      type: builtin

A built-in scheduler is specified with a BuiltInSchedulerConfig object.

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
    BuiltInSchedulerConfig,
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            scheduler=BuiltInSchedulerConfig(),
        ),
    }
)

No additional configuration options are supported by this scheduler type.

Airflow

Example configuration:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    scheduler:
      type: airflow
      airflow_url: <airflow_url>
      username: <username>
      password: <password>

An Airflow scheduler is specified with an AirflowSchedulerConfig object.

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
    AirflowSchedulerConfig,
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            scheduler=AirflowSchedulerConfig(
                airflow_url=<airflow_url>,
                username=<username>,
                password=<password>,
            ),
        ),
    }
)

See Airflow Integration Guide for information about how to integrate Airflow with SQLMesh. See the configuration reference page for a list of all parameters.

Cloud Composer

The Google Cloud Composer scheduler type shares the same configuration options as the airflow type, except for username and password. Cloud Composer relies on gcloud authentication, so the username and password options are not required.

Example configuration:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    scheduler:
      type: cloud_composer
      airflow_url: <airflow_url>

An Google Cloud Composer scheduler is specified with an CloudComposerSchedulerConfig object.

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
    CloudComposerSchedulerConfig,
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            scheduler=CloudComposerSchedulerConfig(
                airflow_url=<airflow_url>,
            ),
        ),
    }
)

Gateway/connection defaults

The default gateway and connection keys specify what should happen when gateways or connections are not explicitly specified. These options are in the gateway/connection defaults section of the configuration reference page.

The gateway specified in default_gateway is used when a sqlmesh command does not explicitly specify a gateway. All SQLMesh CLI commands accept a gateway option after sqlmesh and before the command name; for example, sqlmesh --gateway my_gateway plan. If the option is not specified in a command call, the default_gateway is used.

The three default connection types are used when some gateways in the gateways configuration dictionaries do not specify every connection type.

Default gateway

If a configuration contains multiple gateways, SQLMesh will use the first one in the gateways dictionary by default. The default_gateway key is used to specify a different gateway name as the SQLMesh default.

Example configuration:

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gateways:
  my_gateway:
    <gateway specification>
default_gateway: my_gateway

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    GatewayConfig,
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    gateways={
        "my_gateway": GatewayConfig(
            <gateway specification>
        ),
    },
    default_gateway="my_gateway",
)

Default connections/scheduler

The default_connection, default_test_connection, and default_scheduler keys are used to specify shared defaults across multiple gateways.

For example, you might have a specific connection where your tests should run regardless of which gateway is being used. Instead of duplicating the test connection information in each gateway specification, specify it once in the default_test_connection key.

Example configuration specifying a Postgres default connection, in-memory DuckDB default test connection, and builtin default scheduler:

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default_connection:
  type: postgres
  host: <host>
  port: <port>
  user: <username>
  password: <password>
  database: <database>
default_test_connection:
  type: duckdb
default_scheduler:
  type: builtin

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from sqlmesh.core.config import (
    Config,
    ModelDefaultsConfig,
    PostgresConnectionConfig,
    DuckDBConnectionConfig,
    BuiltInSchedulerConfig
)

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(dialect=<dialect>),
    default_connection=PostgresConnectionConfig(
        host=<host>,
        port=<port>,
        user=<username>,
        password=<password>,
        database=<database>,
    ),
    default_test_connection=DuckDBConnectionConfig(),
    default_scheduler=BuiltInSchedulerConfig(),
)

Models

Model defaults

The model_defaults key is required and must contain a value for the dialect key. All SQL dialects supported by the SQLGlot library are allowed. Other values are set automatically unless explicitly overridden in the model definition.

All supported model_defaults keys are listed in the models configuration reference page.

Example configuration:

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model_defaults:
  dialect: snowflake
  owner: jen
  start: 2022-01-01

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from sqlmesh.core.config import Config, ModelDefaultsConfig

config = Config(
    model_defaults=ModelDefaultsConfig(
        dialect="snowflake",
        owner="jen",
        start="2022-01-01",
    ),
)

The default model kind is VIEW unless overridden with the kind key. For more information on model kinds, refer to model concepts page.

Identifier resolution

When a SQL engine receives a query such as SELECT id FROM "some_table", it eventually needs to understand what database objects the identifiers id and "some_table" correspond to. This process is usually referred to as identifier (or name) resolution.

Different SQL dialects implement different rules when resolving identifiers in queries. For example, certain identifiers may be treated as case-sensitive (e.g. if they're quoted), and a case-insensitive identifier is usually either lowercased or uppercased, before the engine actually looks up what object it corresponds to.

SQLMesh analyzes model queries so that it can extract useful information from them, such as computing Column-Level Lineage. To facilitate this analysis, it normalizes and quotes all identifiers in those queries, respecting each dialect's resolution rules.

The "normalization strategy", i.e. whether case-insensitive identifiers are lowercased or uppercased, is configurable per dialect. For example, to treat all identifiers as case-sensitive in a BigQuery project, one can do:

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model_defaults:
  dialect: "bigquery,normalization_strategy=case_sensitive"

This may be useful in cases where the name casing needs to be preserved, since then SQLMesh won't be able to normalize them.

See here to learn more about the supported normalization strategies.

Model Kinds

Model kinds are required in each model file's MODEL DDL statement. They may optionally be used to specify a default kind in the model defaults configuration key.

All model kind specification keys are listed in the models configuration reference page.

The VIEW, FULL, and EMBEDDED model kinds are specified by name only, while other models kinds require additional parameters and are provided with an array of parameters:

FULL model only requires a name:

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MODEL(
  name docs_example.full_model,
  kind FULL
);

INCREMENTAL_BY_TIME_RANGE requires an array specifying the model's time_column (which should be in the UTC time zone):

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MODEL(
  name docs_example.incremental_model,
  kind INCREMENTAL_BY_TIME_RANGE (
    time_column model_time_column
  )
);

Python model kinds are specified with model kind objects. Python model kind objects have the same arguments as their SQL counterparts, listed in the models configuration reference page.

This example demonstrates how to specify an incremental by time range model kind in Python:

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from sqlmesh import ExecutionContext, model
from sqlmesh.core.model.kind import ModelKindName

@model(
    "docs_example.incremental_model",
    kind=dict(
        name=ModelKindName.INCREMENTAL_BY_TIME_RANGE,
        time_column="ds"
    )
)

Learn more about specifying Python models at the Python models concepts page.

Model Naming

The model_naming configuration controls if model names are inferred based on the project's directory structure. If model_naming is not defined or infer_names is set to false, the model names must be provided explicitly.

With infer_names set to true, model names are inferred based on their path. For example, a model located at models/catalog/schema/model.sql would be named catalog.schema.model. However, if a name is provided in the model definition, it will take precedence over the inferred name.

Example enabling name inference:

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model_naming:
  infer_names: true

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from sqlmesh.core.config import Config, NameInferenceConfig

config = Config(
    model_naming=NameInferenceConfig(
        infer_names=True
    )
)

Debug mode

To enable debug mode set the SQLMESH_DEBUG environment variable to one of the following values: "1", "true", "t", "yes" or "y".

Enabling this mode ensures that full backtraces are printed when using CLI. The default log level is set to DEBUG when this mode is enabled.

Example enabling debug mode for the CLI command sqlmesh plan:

$ SQLMESH_DEBUG=1 sqlmesh plan

PS> $env:SQLMESH_DEBUG=1
PS> sqlmesh plan

C:\> set SQLMESH_DEBUG=1
C:\> sqlmesh plan