Custom configurations

Custom configurations

PROBLEM

Any config key that's not a part of the new authoring layer will cause Fusion to fail to parse. This error will show up as "Ignored unexpected key" in the parse logs. Unexpected config key could fall into one of two categories:

1. It's a misspelling of a supported config key (see misspelled_config_keys.md)
2. It's a custom config key (addressed in this file)

SOLUTION

1. First check whether it's a misspelled config key. Follow misspelled_config_keys.md
2. If it's not a misspelled config key, move the custom config key under a meta: block. If the unsupported config key is in dbt_projects.yml it needs to be moved under a +meta: block.

However, often a user project depends on these keys existing, especially in the case of:

• custom materializations
• custom incremental strategies

For example, it's easy enough to move these cold storage keys into meta: like below. However, it doesn't completely solve the issue.

{{
    config(
        materialized = 'incremental',
        unique_key = 'event_id',
        cold_storage = true,
        cold_storage_date_type = 'relative',
        cold_storage_period = var('cold_storage_default_period'),
        cold_storage_value = var('cold_storage_default_value')
    )
}}

{{
    config(
        materialized = 'incremental',
        unique_key = 'event_id',
        meta = {
            'cold_storage': true,
            'cold_storage_date_type': 'relative',
            'cold_storage_period': var('cold_storage_default_period'),
            'cold_storage_value': var('cold_storage_default_value')
        }
    )
}}

In these instances, not only do the unsupported config keys need to be moved under a new meta: key, but also any macro, or materialization that references those configs in jinja, need to be updated. for example:

this code

{% if config.get('cold_storage_date_type') == 'date' %}

needs to be changed to be this

{% if config.get('meta').cold_storage_date_type == 'date' %}

When you have many files (50+) with the same custom config pattern, use systematic approaches:

1. Search for all affected files: Use grep or similar to find all files with the custom config pattern
2. Use Agent tools: For bulk operations, use automation tools to apply the same transformation pattern across many files
3. Verify the pattern: Test the transformation on a few files first to ensure the pattern works
4. Common patterns to move to meta:
   • Any custom materialization configs
   • Custom incremental strategy configs

CHALLENGES

config.get('user_custom_config) returns None

When referencing custom configs that have been moved to meta, you may encounter Jinja errors like:

unknown method: none has no method named get

This happens when config.get('meta') returns None instead of an empty dictionary for models that don't have a meta section.

Update macro references to be null-safe:

Instead of:

{% set config_value = config.get('meta', {}).get('custom_key') %}

Use:

{% set config_value = config.get('meta', {}).get('custom_key', false) if config.get('meta') else false %}

Or set a local variable for cleaner code:

{% set meta_config = config.get('meta', {}) %}
{% if meta_config and meta_config.get('custom_key') %}
    -- do something
{% endif %}

RESOURCES

• https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/deprecations#customkeyinconfigdeprecation