How to Use dbt Seed

Last updated July 25, 2026 · By the SaturnSQL team

dbt seed loads CSV files from the seeds/ directory into warehouse tables, one table per file. Seeds are for small, static lookup data (country codes, mappings) that belongs in version control, not for loading production data.

dbt seed
dbt seed --select country_codes
dbt seed --full-refresh   # drop and recreate instead of truncating

Overriding column types

# dbt_project.yml
seeds:
  my_project:
    country_codes:
      +column_types:
        country_code: varchar(2)
        population: bigint

Reference a seed from models with {{ ref('country_codes') }}, exactly like any other model.

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