DATA AND ANALYTICS / dbt Labs
Upgrading dbt
Plans a dbt v1 migration to 1.12 using adapter-specific issue bundles and a recorded verification gate.
“Use when a user wants to upgrade, update, or migrate a dbt project to the latest version — e.g. "upgrade my dbt project," "migrate this off dbt 1.5," "get this project running on the latest dbt," "bump the dbt version." Upgrades a dbt v1 project (on 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, or 1.7) all the way to 1.12, applying the required breaking, behavior, and deprecated changes from a data-driven issue corpus. Inputs — starting_version (the project's current dbt minor, one of 1.3/1.4/1.5/1.6/1.7) and adapter_type (snowflake/redshift/bigquery/databricks/spark); both are normally supplied by the caller (e.g. the dbt VS Code extension), with fallbacks described in the skill.”
01 / THE REASONING
Why this made the selection.
- Separates sequential pre-1.8 changes from detected behavior flags and preserves unresolved outside-repository job changes.
- Distinguishes parse-only evidence from user-approved compile, test and build results, preserving issue and phase histories.
02 / THE REVIEW RECORD
What we actually inspected.
Source review has boundaries.
A clear record is more useful than a “safe” badge.
Material inspected
- skills/dbt-migration/skills/upgrading-dbt/SKILL.md (complete frontmatter and body)
- https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-agent-skills/blob/168a2b0b92da59be88866257140907c206ff0e44/LICENSE (applicable licence text)
Our findings
- Separates sequential pre-1.8 changes from detected behavior flags and preserves unresolved outside-repository job changes.
- Distinguishes parse-only evidence from user-approved compile, test and build results, preserving issue and phase histories.
- Reads project/profiles, writes migration artifacts and project files, and runs the selected local or Studio dbt workflow. Approved verification can query or build warehouse data.
Not established by this review
- Host discovery, task execution and model quality were not tested.
- Referenced helpers, sibling plugins and external service operations were not exhaustively audited or executed.
The review applies to the material and revision named here. A newer upstream release can change its behavior.
03 / PUT IT TO WORK
Add a skill to your workflow.
DOCUMENTED COMMAND
npx skills@1.7.1 add https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-agent-skills/tree/168a2b0b92da59be88866257140907c206ff0e44/skills/dbt-migration/skills/upgrading-dbt --skill upgrading-dbtCopying does not execute this command. It may retrieve a newer version than the reviewed source.
- Use the exact reviewed directory/revision and select the intended host/project scope in Skills CLI.
- Retain all supporting files; separately configure companion skills, runtimes and service credentials named in the definition.
- Review the resulting diff and use an isolated target before any migration, deployment, load test or warehouse operation.
Before you start
- The complete upgrading-dbt directory and compiled issue bundles, a supported adapter, an isolated migration branch and the relevant local or Studio execution profile.
04 / FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The source trail.
Our notes are separate from the original resource.
Check upstream before adopting a new version.
- Skill definition ↗Checked
https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-agent-skills/blob/168a2b0b92da59be88866257140907c206ff0e44/skills/dbt-migration/skills/upgrading-dbt/SKILL.md
Supports: summary, whySelected, limitations, access, review
- Repository licence ↗Checked
https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-agent-skills/blob/168a2b0b92da59be88866257140907c206ff0e44/LICENSE
Supports: Redistribution terms
- Install instructions ↗Checked
https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-agent-skills/blob/168a2b0b92da59be88866257140907c206ff0e44/README.md
Supports: Documented install command