Create snapshot tables in an external location #372

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1. stockx-dhruv

   added

   enhancementNew feature or requestNew feature or request

   on Jun 21, 2023
2. github-actions commented on Dec 19, 2023

   

   github-actionsBot

   on Dec 19, 2023 – with GitHub Actions

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   This issue has been marked as Stale because it has been open for 180 days with no activity. If you would like the issue to remain open, please remove the stale label or comment on the issue.
3. github-actions

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   Stale

   on Dec 19, 2023
4. benc-db

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   help wantedLooking for community help to implementLooking for community help to implement

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   on Jan 8, 2025
5. karasda commented on Dec 19, 2025

   

   karasda

   on Dec 19, 2025

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   We are on 1.10.14 and the location_root parameter for snapshot is working for us.
   (We are defining it in a project.yml and not in the "config" part of models)
6. TangoEnSkai commented on Aug 23, 2026

   

   TangoEnSkai

   on Aug 23, 2026

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   Following up on @karasda's report that this works on 1.10.14 — the code path on main supports it.

   Snapshots build their table through create_table_as (materializations/snapshot.sql), which resolves to databricks__create_table_as in relations/table/create.sql, and that emits location_clause(catalog_relation) alongside the other clauses. The catalog relation gets its location from parse_model.location_root(model), which reads location_root off any node's config — it is not model-specific — and joins it with the identifier path:

   @property
   def location(self) -> Optional[str]:
       if self.location_root and self.location_path:
           return posixpath.join(self.location_root, self.location_path)

   Only the initial snapshot build goes through create_table_as; later runs merge into the existing table, so the location is set once at creation as expected.

   One gap worth noting: there is no functional test pinning this. grep -rn "location_root" tests/functional/ only turns up incremental, seed, persist_docs, and python-model cases — nothing for snapshots — so the behavior is currently unprotected against regression even though it works.

   Caveat: I verified the code path and clause construction, not an end-to-end run against a workspace with a real external location. If a maintainer can confirm, this looks closeable (optionally with a snapshot case added to the location_root coverage first).
7. sd-db commented on Oct 24, 2026

   

   sd-db

   on Oct 24, 2026

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   This is supported. We tested on current main (1.12.7) with location_root set both under snapshots: in dbt_project.yml and in the snapshot's own config(). In both cases the snapshot table is created as an EXTERNAL table under <location_root>/<snapshot name>, and a second dbt snapshot after a source change keeps it there and records the change. As @karasda noted, this already worked on 1.10.14. Closing as completed; please reopen with your config and dbt.log if it doesn't work for you.
8. sd-db

   closed this as completedon Oct 24, 2026