Installing packages with packages.yml in dbt - Try It Yourself

Installing packages with packages.yml

📖 Scenario: You are working on a data analytics project using dbt. You want to add external packages to your project to reuse useful models and macros created by others.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to add and install packages in a dbt project using the packages.yml file.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a packages.yml file with the correct package entry

Specify the package name and version

Run the dbt command to install the package

Verify the package is installed

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

In real data projects, you often reuse code from others by installing dbt packages. This saves time and ensures best practices.

💼 Career

Knowing how to manage dbt packages is important for data analysts and engineers working with dbt to build reliable data pipelines.

1

Create a packages.yml file

Create a file named packages.yml in your dbt project root folder. Inside it, add a packages list with one package entry. The package name should be dbt-labs/dbt_utils and the version should be 0.8.6. Write exactly this content in packages.yml:

packages:
  - package: dbt-labs/dbt_utils
    version: 0.8.6

dbt

# Create packages.yml file with the specified package and version
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The packages.yml file must have a packages key with a list of packages. Each package needs a package name and a version.

2

Add a config variable for package path

Create a variable called package_path and set it to the string "dbt-labs/dbt_utils". This will help you refer to the package name later.

dbt

packages:
  - package: dbt-labs/dbt_utils
    version: 0.8.6

# Create a variable called package_path with the package name
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a simple assignment statement to create the variable package_path.

3

Run the dbt command to install packages

Write a command string variable called install_command that contains the exact shell command dbt deps. This command will install the packages listed in packages.yml.

dbt

packages:
  - package: dbt-labs/dbt_utils
    version: 0.8.6

package_path = "dbt-labs/dbt_utils"

# Create a variable install_command with the string 'dbt deps'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Assign the string "dbt deps" to the variable install_command.

4

Print the install command output

Print the string stored in the variable install_command to show the command you will run to install packages.

dbt

packages:
  - package: dbt-labs/dbt_utils
    version: 0.8.6

package_path = "dbt-labs/dbt_utils"

install_command = "dbt deps"

# Print the install_command variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(install_command) to display the command.