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About dbt retry command

Retry re-executes the last invocation from the point of failure.

  • If no nodes are executed before the failure (for example, if a run failed early due to a warehouse connection or permission errors), retry won't run anything since there are no recorded nodes to retry from.
  • In these cases, we recommend checking your run_results.json file and manually re-running the full job so the nodes build.
  • Once some nodes have run, you can use retry to re-execute from any new point of failure.
  • If the previously executed command completed successfully, retry will finish as no operation.

Retry flags​

The dbt retry flags apply when you use a local dbt installation or the Studio IDE.

dbt platform CLI

If you use the dbt platform CLI against your cloud environment, dbt retry accepts only a small subset of overrides—typically --threads, --vars, and related options. Use dbt retry --help on your machine for the exact list your CLI build supports.

Supported commands​

Retry works with the following commands:

Retry references run_results.json to determine where to start. Executing retry without correcting the previous failures yields idempotent results.

Example results of executing dbt retry after a successful dbt run:

Running with dbt=1.6.1
Registered adapter: duckdb=1.6.0
Found 5 models, 3 seeds, 20 tests, 0 sources, 0 exposures, 0 metrics, 348 macros, 0 groups, 0 semantic models
 
Nothing to do. Try checking your model configs and model specification args

Example of when dbt run encounters a syntax error in a model:

Running with dbt=1.6.1
Registered adapter: duckdb=1.6.0
Found 5 models, 3 seeds, 20 tests, 0 sources, 0 exposures, 0 metrics, 348 macros, 0 groups, 0 semantic models

Concurrency: 24 threads (target='dev')
 
1 of 5 START sql view model main.stg_customers ................................. [RUN]
2 of 5 START sql view model main.stg_orders .................................... [RUN]
3 of 5 START sql view model main.stg_payments .................................. [RUN]
1 of 5 OK created sql view model main.stg_customers ............................ [OK in 0.06s]
2 of 5 OK created sql view model main.stg_orders ............................... [OK in 0.06s]
3 of 5 OK created sql view model main.stg_payments ............................. [OK in 0.07s]
4 of 5 START sql table model main.customers .................................... [RUN]
5 of 5 START sql table model main.orders ....................................... [RUN]
4 of 5 ERROR creating sql table model main.customers ........................... [ERROR in 0.03s]
5 of 5 OK created sql table model main.orders .................................. [OK in 0.04s]
 
Finished running 3 view models, 2 table models in 0 hours 0 minutes and 0.15 seconds (0.15s).
  
Completed with 1 error and 0 warnings:
  
Runtime Error in model customers (models/customers.sql)
 Parser Error: syntax error at or near "selct"

Done. PASS=4 WARN=0 ERROR=1 SKIP=0 TOTAL=5

Example of a subsequent failed dbt retry run without fixing the error(s):

Running with dbt=1.6.1
Registered adapter: duckdb=1.6.0
Found 5 models, 3 seeds, 20 tests, 0 sources, 0 exposures, 0 metrics, 348 macros, 0 groups, 0 semantic models

Concurrency: 24 threads (target='dev')

1 of 1 START sql table model main.customers .................................... [RUN]
1 of 1 ERROR creating sql table model main.customers ........................... [ERROR in 0.03s]

Done. PASS=4 WARN=0 ERROR=1 SKIP=0 TOTAL=5

Example of a successful dbt retry run after fixing error(s):

Running with dbt=1.6.1
Registered adapter: duckdb=1.6.0
Found 5 models, 3 seeds, 20 tests, 0 sources, 0 exposures, 0 metrics, 348 macros, 0 groups, 0 semantic models
 
Concurrency: 24 threads (target='dev')

1 of 1 START sql table model main.customers .................................... [RUN]
1 of 1 OK created sql table model main.customers ............................... [OK in 0.05s]

Finished running 1 table model in 0 hours 0 minutes and 0.09 seconds (0.09s).
 
Completed successfully
  
Done. PASS=1 WARN=0 ERROR=0 SKIP=0 TOTAL=1

In each scenario dbt retry picks up from the error rather than running all of the upstream dependencies again.

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