Deprecations

As dbt runs, it generates different categories of events, one of which is deprecations. Deprecations are a special type of warning that lets you know that there are problems in parts of your project that will result in breaking changes in a future version of dbt. It is important to resolve any deprecation warnings in your project before the changes are made.

List of Deprecation Warnings

The following are deprecation warnings in dbt today and the associated version number in which they first appear.

ConfigDataPathDeprecation

In dbt v1.0 data-paths has been renamed to seed-paths. If you receive this deprecation warning, it means that data-paths is still being used in your project's dbt_project.yml.

Example warning:

CLI

23:14:58  [WARNING]: Deprecated functionality
The `data-paths` config has been renamed to `seed-paths`. Please update your
`dbt_project.yml` configuration to reflect this change.

ConfigDataPathDeprecation warning resolution

Change data-paths to seed-paths in your dbt_project.yml.

ConfigLogPathDeprecation

dbt v1.5 specifying log-path in dbt_project.yml was deprecated. Receiving this deprecation warning means that log-path is still specified in your dbt_project.yml and it's not set to the default value logs.

Example:

CLI

23:39:18  [WARNING]: Deprecated functionality
The `log-path` config in `dbt_project.yml` has been deprecated and will no
longer be supported in a future version of dbt-core. If you wish to write dbt
logs to a custom directory, please use the --log-path CLI flag or DBT_LOG_PATH
env var instead.

ConfigLogPathDeprecation warning resolution

Remove log-path from your dbt_project.yml and specify it via either the CLI flag --log-path or environment variable DBT_LOG_PATH as documented here

ConfigSourcePathDeprecation

In dbt v1.0 source-paths has been renamed to model-paths. Receiving this deprecation warning means that source-paths is still being used in your project's dbt_project.yml.

Example:

CLI

23:03:47  [WARNING]: Deprecated functionality
The `source-paths` config has been renamed to `model-paths`. Please update your
`dbt_project.yml` configuration to reflect this change.
23:03:47  Registered adapter: postgres=1.9.0

ConfigSourcePathDeprecation warning resolution

Change source-paths to model-paths in your dbt_project.yml.

ConfigTargetPathDeprecation

In dbt 1.5 specifying target-path in dbt_project.yml was deprecated. Receiving this deprecation warning means that target-path is still specified in your dbt_project.yml and it's not set to the default value, target.

Example:

CLI

23:22:01  [WARNING]: Deprecated functionality
The `target-path` config in `dbt_project.yml` has been deprecated and will no
longer be supported in a future version of dbt-core. If you wish to write dbt
artifacts to a custom directory, please use the --target-path CLI flag or
DBT_TARGET_PATH env var instead.

ConfigTargetPathDeprecation warning resolution

Remove target-path from your dbt_project.yml and specify it via either the CLI flag --target-path or environment variable DBT_TARGET_PATH.

ExposureNameDeprecation

Description

In dbt 1.3, dbt began allowing only letters, numbers, and underscores in the name property of exposures.

Example:

CLI

23:55:00  [WARNING]: Deprecated functionality
Starting in v1.3, the 'name' of an exposure should contain only letters,
numbers, and underscores. Exposures support a new property, 'label', which may
contain spaces, capital letters, and special characters. stg_&customers does not
follow this pattern. Please update the 'name', and use the 'label' property for
a human-friendly title. This will raise an error in a future version of
dbt-core.

ExposureNameDeprecation warning resolution

Ensure your exposure names only contain letters, numbers, and underscores. A more human-readable name can be put in the label property of exposures.

MFCumulativeTypeParamsDeprecation

In dbt v1.9 implementing window and time_to_grain directly on the type_params of a metric was deprecated.

Example:

CLI

15:36:22  [WARNING]: Cumulative fields `type_params.window` and
`type_params.grain_to_date` has been moved and will soon be deprecated. Please
nest those values under `type_params.cumulative_type_params.window` and
`type_params.cumulative_type_params.grain_to_date`. See documentation on
behavior changes:
https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/global-configs/behavior-changes.

MFCumulativeTypeParamsDeprecation warning resolution

Nest your window and time_to_grain under the cumulative_type_params property within the type_params of the relevant metric.

MFTimespineWithoutYamlConfigurationDeprecation

Before dbt v1.9, the MetricFlow time spine configuration was stored in a metricflow_time_spine.sql file. In v1.9 dbt introduced the YAML timespine defintion for MetricFlow. It was then decided that it would be the standard going forward. If you see this deprecation warning, you don't have a YAML timespine definition for Metricflow.

Example:

CLI

19:56:41  [WARNING]: Time spines without YAML configuration are in the process of
deprecation. Please add YAML configuration for your 'metricflow_time_spine'
model. See documentation on MetricFlow time spines:
https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/build/metricflow-time-spine and behavior change
documentation:
https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/global-configs/behavior-changes

MFTimespineWithoutYamlConfigurationDeprecation warning resolution

Define your MetricFlow timespine in YAML.

PackageInstallPathDeprecation

The default location where packages are installed when running dbt deps has been updated from dbt_modules to dbt_packages. During a dbt clean dbt detected that dbt_modules is defined in the clean-targets property in dbt_project.yml even though dbt_modules is not the packages-install-path.

Example:

CLI

22:48:01  [WARNING]: Deprecated functionality
The default package install path has changed from `dbt_modules` to
`dbt_packages`. Please update `clean-targets` in `dbt_project.yml` and
check `.gitignore`. Or, set `packages-install-path: dbt_modules`
If you'd like to keep the current value.

PackageInstallPathDeprecation warning resolution

The following are recommended approaches:

1. Replace dbt_modules with dbt_packages in your clean-targets spec (and .gitignore).
2. Set packages-install-path: dbt_modules if you want to keep having packages installed in dbt_modules.

PackageRedirectDeprecation

This deprecation warning means a package currently used in your project, defined in packages.yml, has been renamed. This generally happens when the ownership of a package has changed or the scope of the package has changed. It is likely that the package currently referenced in your packages.yml has stopped being actively maintained (as development has been moved to the new package name), and at some point, the named package will cease working with dbt.

CLI

22:31:38  [WARNING]: Deprecated functionality
The `fishtown-analytics/dbt_utils` package is deprecated in favor of
`dbt-labs/dbt_utils`. Please update your `packages.yml` configuration to use
`dbt-labs/dbt_utils` instead.

PackageRedirectDeprecation warning Resolution

Begin referencing the new package in your packages.yml instead of the old package.

ProjectFlagsMovedDeprecation

In dbt v1.8, the config property that had been configurable in profiles.yml was deprecated in favor of flags in the dbt_project.yaml. If you see this deprecation warning, dbt detected the config property in your profiles.yml.

Example:

CLI

00:08:12  [WARNING]: Deprecated functionality
User config should be moved from the 'config' key in profiles.yml to the 'flags' key in dbt_project.yml.

ProjectFlagsMovedDeprecation warning resolution

Remove config from profiles.yml. Add any previous config in profiles.yml to flags in dbt_project.yml.

ResourceNamesWithSpacesDeprecation

In dbt 1.8, allowing resource names to have spaces in them was deprecated. If you get this deprecation warning, dbt detected a resource name with a space in it.

Example:

CLI

16:37:58  [WARNING]: Found spaces in the name of `model.jaffle_shop.stg supplies`

ResourceNamesWithSpacesDeprecation warning resolution

Rename the resource in violation so it no longer contains a space in its name.

SourceFreshnessProjectHooksNotRun

If you are seeing this, it means that the behavior flag source_freshness_run_project_hooks is set to false and either on-run-start or on-run-end is defined (docs). Previously, project hooks wouldn't be run on sources when dbt source freshness was run.

Example:

CLI

19:51:56  [WARNING]: In a future version of dbt, the `source freshness` command
will start running `on-run-start` and `on-run-end` hooks by default. For more
information: https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/global-configs/legacy-behaviors

SourceFreshnessProjectHooksNotRun warning resolution

Set source_freshness_run_project_hooks to true. For instructions on skipping project hooks during a dbt source freshness invocation, check out the behavior change documentation.