Skip to main content

Logs

Log Formatting​

dbt outputs logs to two different locations: CLI console and the log file.

The LOG_FORMAT and LOG_FORMAT_FILE configs specify how dbt's logs should be formatted, and they each have the same options: json, text, and debug.

Usage
dbt --log-format json run

The text format is the default for console logs and has plain text messages prefixed with a simple timestamp:

23:30:16  Running with dbt=1.8.0
23:30:17  Registered adapter: postgres=1.8.0

The debug format is the default for the log file and is the same as the text format but with a more detailed timestamp and also includes the invocation_id, thread_id, and log level of each message:

============================== 16:12:08.555032 | 9089bafa-4010-4f38-9b42-564ec9106e07 ==============================
16:12:08.555032 [info ] [MainThread]: Running with dbt=1.8.0
16:12:08.751069 [info ] [MainThread]: Registered adapter: postgres=1.8.0

The json format outputs fully structured logs in the JSON format:

{"data": {"log_version": 3, "version": "=1.8.0"}, "info": {"category": "", "code": "A001", "extra": {}, "invocation_id": "82131fa0-d2b4-4a77-9436-019834e22746", "level": "info", "msg": "Running with dbt=1.8.0", "name": "MainReportVersion", "pid": 7875, "thread": "MainThread", "ts": "2024-05-29T23:32:54.993336Z"}}
{"data": {"adapter_name": "postgres", "adapter_version": "=1.8.0"}, "info": {"category": "", "code": "E034", "extra": {}, "invocation_id": "82131fa0-d2b4-4a77-9436-019834e22746", "level": "info", "msg": "Registered adapter: postgres=1.8.0", "name": "AdapterRegistered", "pid": 7875, "thread": "MainThread", "ts": "2024-05-29T23:32:56.437986Z"}}

When the LOG_FORMAT is set explicitly, it will take affect in both the console and log files whereas the LOG_FORMAT_FILE only affects the log file.

Usage
dbt --log-format-file json run
Tip: verbose structured logs

Use json formatting value in conjunction with the DEBUG config to produce rich log information which can be piped into monitoring tools for analysis:

dbt --debug --log-format json run

See structured logging for more details.

Log Level​

The LOG_LEVEL config sets the minimum severity of events captured in the console and file logs. This is a more flexible alternative to the --debug flag. The available options for the log levels are debug, info, warn, error, or none.

  • Setting the --log-level will configure console and file logs.

    dbt --log-level debug run

  • Setting the LOG_LEVEL to none will disable information from being sent to either the console or file logs.

    dbt --log-level none

  • To set the file log level as a different value than the console, use the --log-level-file flag.

    dbt --log-level-file error run

  • To only disable writing to the logs file but keep console logs, set LOG_LEVEL_FILE config to none.

    dbt --log-level-file none

Debug-level logging​

The DEBUG config redirects dbt's debug logs to standard output. This has the effect of showing debug-level log information in the terminal in addition to the logs/dbt.log file. This output is verbose.

The --debug flag is also available via shorthand as -d.

Usage
dbt --debug run
...

Log and target paths​

By default, dbt will write logs to a directory named logs/, and all other artifacts to a directory named target/. Both of those directories are located relative to dbt_project.yml of the active project.

Just like other global configs, it is possible to override these values for your environment or invocation by using CLI options (--target-path, --log-path) or environment variables (DBT_TARGET_PATH, DBT_LOG_PATH).

Suppress non-error logs in output​

By default, dbt shows all logs in standard out (stdout). You can use the QUIET config to show only error logs in stdout. Logs will still include the output of anything passed to the print() macro. For example, you might suppress all but error logs to more easily find and debug a jinja error.

profiles.yml
config:
  quiet: true

Supply the -q or --quiet flag to dbt run to show only error logs and suppress non-error logs.

dbt --quiet run
...

dbt list logging​

In dbt version 1.5, we updated the logging behavior of the dbt list command to include INFO level logs by default.

You can use either of these parameters to ensure clean output that's compatible with downstream processes, such as piping results to jq, a file, or another process:

  • dbt --log-level warn list (recommended; equivalent to previous default)
  • dbt --quiet list (suppresses all logging less than ERROR level, except for "printed" messages and list output)

Logging relational cache events​

The LOG_CACHE_EVENTS config allows detailed logging for relational cache, which are disabled by default.

dbt --log-cache-events compile

Color​

You can set the color preferences for the file logs only within profiles.yml or using the --use-colors-file / --no-use-colors-file flags.

profiles.yml
config:
  use_colors_file: False
dbt --use-colors-file run
dbt --no-use-colors-file run
0
Edit this page