What’s new: dbt Docs for 5X dbt Projects

We’re excited to announce our latest new feature:  Docs! 

dbt^TM Docs automatically generate comprehensive documentation for your dbt^TM  project repositories. You get an interactive Docs website that includes key elements like model lineage graphs, a data dictionary, model and column descriptions, and test definitions. This documentation serves as a single source of truth for your data definitions, making your data pipeline more transparent, accessible, and easy to understand.

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Key benefits

Docs help the following ways:

1. Automated documentation: dbt^TM Docs streamlines the documentation process, saving you time while ensuring your data project is thoroughly documented and up-to-date.
2. Enhanced Accessibility and Navigation: Docs is highly interactive, making simple to explore data models, view lineage, and navigate complex data structures with ease.
3. Improved Collaboration: Docs facilitates seamless collaboration across your data team by providing a shared reference point, making it easier to manage and optimize your data pipeline.
4. Lineage and dependencies: Access detailed lineage information and check dependencies directly from Docs for each job in your dbt^TM  repository.‍
5. Streamlined Impact Assessment: Collaborate more effectively on data transformation and modeling, making it easier to assess the impact of changes.

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Key features

The following features are supported:

1. Comprehensive project and database views: The Docs website offers a detailed view of your projects and databases. The Project tab mirrors your dbt^TM project’s directory structure, while the Database tab groups models into database schemas, allowing you to easily check and manage dbt^TM models.
2. Generate docs for a Job: Automatically generate docs when setting up a Job for your orchestration pipeline, ensuring that documentation is always aligned with your project’s state.
3. Default Docs for each dbt^TM repository: Generate default documentation for each dbt^TM repository by defining the job and nodes at the workspace level, giving you comprehensive visibility into your project.
4. Effortless hosting: The dbt^TM  Console supports hosting your Docs website using the 5X-managed storage locally.  
5. Easy Navigation: Enable a simple toggle for Docs in the main navigation bar, providing easy access to your project documentation.

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Accessibility

dbt Docs is designed to be accessible to Admins and Developers using 5X-managed S3 storage.

Using Docs

1. Navigate to Settings > Docs
   • Toggle on to show the Docs tab in the main navigation bar.
   • Set the default dbtTM repository for which you want to generate/view docs.
2. Click Docs from the navigation bar and select the repository for which you want to generate/view docs directly from the 5X workspace.
3. Toggle on Docs for a Job when setting up your orchestration pipeline from the Jobs tab.

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Check out Docs to learn more.