What Is the dbt DAG?
Last updated July 25, 2026 · By the SaturnSQL team
The DAG (directed acyclic graph) is dbt's dependency graph of sources, models, seeds, and snapshots. Every {{ ref() }} and {{ source() }} call adds an edge, which is how dbt knows the correct build order and enables parallel execution across threads.
Refs define the edges
-- fct_orders depends on stg_orders and stg_customers
SELECT ...
FROM {{ ref('stg_orders') }} o
JOIN {{ ref('stg_customers') }} c ON ...Viewing the lineage graph
dbt docs generate
dbt docs serve # open the graph icon, bottom rightGraph selectors traverse the DAG on the command line: +model selects upstream nodes, model+ downstream. dbt errors on cycles, since the graph must stay acyclic.
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