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clarify defer behavior #4435

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merged 3 commits into from
Nov 13, 2023
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clarify defer behavior #4435

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875f6eb
clarify dbt rules for defer
mirnawong1 Nov 10, 2023
1da1108
consistency
mirnawong1 Nov 10, 2023
4c7e2f0
Merge branch 'current' into mwong-clarify-defer
mirnawong1 Nov 13, 2023
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15 changes: 13 additions & 2 deletions website/docs/docs/cloud/about-cloud-develop-defer.md
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Expand Up @@ -7,9 +7,20 @@ pagination_next: "docs/cloud/cloud-cli-installation"
---


[Defer](/reference/node-selection/defer) is a powerful feature that allows developers to only build and run and test models they've edited without having to first run and build all the models that come before them (upstream parents). This is powered by using a production manifest for comparison, and dbt will resolve the `{{ ref() }}` function with upstream production artifacts.
[Defer](/reference/node-selection/defer) is a powerful feature that allows developers to only build and run and test models they've edited without having to first run and build all the models that come before them (upstream parents). This is powered by using a production manifest for comparison, and dbt will resolve the `{{ ref() }}` function with upstream production artifacts.

Both the dbt Cloud IDE and the dbt Cloud CLI allow users to natively defer to production metadata directly in their development workflows, dramatically reducing development time and warehouse spend by preventing unnecessary model builds.
By default, dbt follows these rules:

- Defers to the production environment when there's no development schema.
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- Defers to the production environment when there's no development schema.
- Resolves `{{ ref() }}` functions using the production locations for the parents of selected models using metadata from the production environment.

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  • dbt uses the production locations of parent models to resolve {{ ref() }} functions, based on metadata from the production environment

- If a development schema exists, dbt will prioritize those changes, which minimizes development time and avoids unnecessary model builds.
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- If a development schema exists, dbt will prioritize those changes, which minimizes development time and avoids unnecessary model builds.
- If a development version of a deferred model exists, dbt preferentially use that table when resolving the reference.
- Passing the `--favor-state` flag will override this behavior, and _always_ resolve refs using the production metadata, regardless of the presence of a development relation.


Both the dbt Cloud IDE and the dbt Cloud CLI allow users to natively defer to production metadata directly in their development workflows.

For specific scenarios:
- Use [`--favor-state`](/reference/node-selection/defer#favor-state) to always use production artifacts to resolve the ref.
- If facing issues with outdated tables in the development schema, `--favor-state` is an alternative to defer.

For a clean slate, it's a good practice to drop the development schema at the start and end of your development cycle.

## Required setup

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