dbtective documentation
Rules
allowed_subfolders

allowed_subfolders

Rule: allowed_subfolders


allowed_subfolders details
This rule enforces that dbt objects are organized within specific allowed subfolders of a given path. This helps maintain a consistent project structure and ensures models are properly categorized (e.g., by data source or domain).

Configuration

  • type: Must be allowed_subfolders.
  • allowed_subfolders: (required) List of subfolder names that are allowed within the specified path.
  • Both the path_prefix and path_postfix can be used to create this path {path_prefix}/{resource_type}/{path_postfix}/.
    • path_prefix: (optional) Path segment that appears before the resource type (e.g., dbt for paths like dbt/models/...).
    • path_postfix: (optional) Path segment that appears after the resource type (e.g., bronze for paths like models/bronze/...).
  • applies_to: (optional) List of dbt object types to include.
    • Default: ["models"]
    • Options: models, seeds, snapshots, analyses, metrics, hook_nodes, sql_operations, saved_queries, sources, unit_tests, macros, exposures, semantic_models
Common Rule Config
  • name: Human-readable name of the rule.
  • severity: "error" (fail) or "warning" (warn only).
    • (optional, defaults to "error" if not specified)
  • description: Human-readable explanation of the rule.
  • includes: List of patterns to explicitly include for this rule.
      Paths are relative to the original_file_path from the manifest.
      Pattern syntax:
    • * matches any characters except / (within a single directory)
    • ** matches any characters including / (across directories)
    • ^ at the start anchors to the beginning of the path
    • $ at the end anchors to the end of the path
    • Without anchors, pattern matches if it appears anywhere in the path (contains)
        Examples:     ^models/staging/ - paths starting with models/staging/     orders - paths containing orders anywhere     .sql$ - paths ending with .sql     ^models/*.sql$ - SQL files directly in models/ folder     ^models/**/*.sql$ - SQL files in any subfolder of models/
  • excludes: List of patterns to explicitly exclude from this rule.
      Uses the same pattern syntax as includes.
      Examples:     ^models/legacy/ - exclude legacy models folder     _deprecated - exclude paths containing _deprecated     ^tests/ - exclude test files
  • model_materializations: Filter models by materialization type. Only applies when applies_to includes models.
      (optional, if not specified all materializations are included)
      Built-in types: table, view, incremental, ephemeral, materialized_view. Custom materializations are also supported.
      Example: ["table", "incremental"]

Example Config

manifest_tests:
  - name: "medallion_structure"
    type: "allowed_subfolders"
    description: "Models must follow medallion architecture (bronze/silver/gold)."
    allowed_subfolders:
      - "bronze"
      - "silver"
      - "gold"

  - name: "bronze_models_by_source"
    type: "allowed_subfolders"
    description: "Bronze models must be organized by source system."
    path_postfix: "bronze"
    allowed_subfolders:
      - "salesforce"
      - "postgres"
      - "snowflake"
[[manifest_tests]]
name = "medallion_structure"
type = "allowed_subfolders"
description = "Models must follow medallion architecture (bronze/silver/gold)."
applies_to = ["models"]
allowed_subfolders = ["bronze", "silver", "gold"]

[[manifest_tests]]
name = "bronze_models_by_source"
type = "allowed_subfolders"
description = "Bronze models must be organized by source system."
applies_to = ["models"]
path_postfix = "bronze"
allowed_subfolders = ["salesforce", "postgres", "snowflake"]
[[tool.dbtective.manifest_tests]]
name = "medallion_structure"
type = "allowed_subfolders"
description = "Models must follow medallion architecture (bronze/silver/gold)."
applies_to = ["models"]
allowed_subfolders = ["bronze", "silver", "gold"]

[[tool.dbtective.manifest_tests]]
name = "bronze_models_by_source"
type = "allowed_subfolders"
description = "Bronze models must be organized by source system."
applies_to = ["models"]
path_postfix = "bronze"
allowed_subfolders = ["salesforce", "postgres", "snowflake"]
Relevant dbt structure

The following example shows the expected folder structure enforced by the two rules above:

  • The medallion_structure rule ensures that models are organized into bronze, silver, and gold folders.
  • The bronze_models_by_source rule ensures that within the bronze folder, models are further organized by source system (e.g., salesforce, postgres, snowflake).

This results in the following structure: ✓ = compliant, ✗ = non-compliant

          • stg_accounts.sql ✓
          • stg_users.sql ✓
          • stg_data.sql ✗ violates rule 2 (non-allowed subfolder)
        • stg_orders.sql ✗ violates rule 2 (root)
        • dim_customers.sql ✓
    • Rulescolumns (4)