dbt-transformation-patterns
Master dbt (data build tool) for analytics engineering with model organization, testing, documentation, and incremental strategies. Use when building data transformations, creating data models, or implementing analytics engineering best practices.
By wshobson · 9,792 installs
npx skills add wshobson/agents --skill dbt-transformation-patterns
Source repository · Upstream listing
dbt Transformation Patterns
Production ready patterns for dbt (data build tool) including model organization, testing strategies, documentation, and incremental processing.
When to Use This Skill
Building data transformation pipelines with dbt
Organizing models into staging, intermediate, and marts layers
Implementing data quality tests
Creating incremental models for large datasets
Documenting data models and lineage
Setting up dbt project structure
Core Concepts
1. Model Layers (Medallion Architecture)
2. Naming Conventions
Layer Prefix Example
Staging stg stg stripe payments
Intermediate int int payments pivoted
Marts dim , fct dim customers , fct orders
Quick Start
Detailed patterns and worked examples
Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md . Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.
Best Practices
Do's
Use staging layer Clean data once, use everywhere
Test aggressively Not null, unique, relationships
Document everything Column descriptions, model descriptions
Use incremental For tables 1M rows
Version control dbt project in Git
Don'ts
Don't skip staging Raw → mart is tech debt
Don't hardcode dates Use {{ var('start date') }}
Don't repeat logic Extract to macros
Don't test in prod Use dev target
Don't ignore freshness Monitor source data