Why Calling macros across projects in dbt? - Purpose & Use Cases

The Big Idea

What if you could fix a bug in one macro and instantly improve all your projects?

The Scenario

Imagine you have multiple dbt projects, each with its own set of macros. You want to reuse a macro from one project in another, but you have to copy and paste the macro code manually every time.

The Problem

This manual copying is slow and error-prone. If you update the macro in one place, you must remember to update it everywhere else. This leads to inconsistent logic and bugs that are hard to track.

The Solution

Calling macros across projects lets you write a macro once and use it anywhere. You just reference the macro by its project name, so updates happen in one place and instantly apply everywhere.

Before vs After

✗ Before

def my_macro():
    # macro code copied in every project
    pass

✓ After

{{ project_name.macro_name() }}

What It Enables

This makes your dbt projects cleaner, more maintainable, and faster to develop by sharing logic seamlessly across projects.

Real Life Example

A data team has a macro to calculate customer lifetime value. Instead of rewriting it in every project, they call it from a shared analytics project, ensuring consistent calculations everywhere.

Key Takeaways

Manual copying of macros causes errors and wastes time.

Calling macros across projects centralizes logic and simplifies updates.

This improves consistency and speeds up development in dbt workflows.