update

dbt-forge update re-renders the dbt-forge templates using the stored project configuration and shows unified diffs for any files that have changed. Use it after upgrading dbt-forge to pick up template improvements.

Command

dbt-forge update [--dry-run]

What it does

The command:

1. Reads the .dbt-forge.yml manifest written during init
2. Reconstructs the original ProjectConfig from the manifest
3. Re-renders all templates with the current version of dbt-forge
4. Compares each rendered file against the on-disk version
5. Reports counts of unchanged, changed, and new files

In interactive mode (default), each changed file is shown as a unified diff and you can accept or skip the update. In --dry-run mode, only the diff summary is printed.

Options

--dry-run

Preview changes without writing anything. Shows the list of changed and new files with their diffs.

dbt-forge update --dry-run

Manifest

The .dbt-forge.yml file is created automatically when you run dbt-forge init. It stores:

• dbt_forge_version — the version of dbt-forge that generated the project
• created_at — ISO timestamp of generation
• config — serialized ProjectConfig (adapter, marts, packages, feature flags)
• files — map of relative file paths to SHA-256 content hashes

The manifest is required for update to work. Projects created before this feature was added will need to be re-generated with init to get a manifest.

Output

  dbt-forge update — my_dbt_project

  22 unchanged
  2 changed
  0 new

Changed files:
  M  README.md
  M  .github/workflows/dbt_ci.yml

In interactive mode, each changed file shows a syntax-highlighted unified diff followed by a prompt:

--- README.md ---
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # my_dbt_project
+
 ## Setup
-Run dbt debug to verify.
+Run `uv run --env-file .env dbt debug` to verify.

? Apply changes to README.md?
> accept
  skip

Select accept to overwrite the file with the new version, or skip to leave it unchanged. After all files are reviewed, the manifest is updated to reflect the current state.

Behavior and limits

• Must run from inside an existing dbt project with a .dbt-forge.yml manifest.
• Only files tracked in the manifest are compared. Files added after init (via add commands or manually) are not affected.
• Accepted changes overwrite the on-disk file. Skipped changes leave the file unchanged.
• The manifest is updated after changes are applied.
• Does not require a warehouse connection.