event_time

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Available from dbt v1.9 or with the dbt Cloud "Latest" release track.

Models

dbt_project.yml

models:
  resource-path:
    +event_time: my_time_field

models/properties.yml

models:
  - name: model_name
    config:
      event_time: my_time_field

models/modelname.sql

{{ config(
    event_time='my_time_field'
) }}

Seeds

dbt_project.yml

seeds:
  resource-path:
    +event_time: my_time_field

seeds/properties.yml

seeds:
  - name: seed_name
    config:
      event_time: my_time_field

Snapshots

dbt_project.yml

snapshots:
  resource-path:
    +event_time: my_time_field

Sources

dbt_project.yml

sources:
  resource-path:
    +event_time: my_time_field

models/properties.yml

sources:
  - name: source_name
    config:
      event_time: my_time_field

Definition

You can configure event_time for a model, seed, or source in your dbt_project.yml file, property YAML file, or config block.

event_time is required for the incremental microbatch strategy and highly recommended for Advanced CI's compare changes in CI/CD workflows, where it ensures the same time-slice of data is correctly compared between your CI and production environments.

Best practices

Set the event_time to the name of the field that represents the actual timestamp of the event (like account_created_at). The timestamp of the event should represent "at what time did the row occur" rather than an event ingestion date.

However, if an ingestion date (like loaded_at, ingested_at, or last_updated_at) are the only timestamps you use, you can set event_time to these fields. Here are some considerations to keep in mind if you do this:

• Using last_updated_at or loaded_at — May result in duplicate entries in the resulting table in the data warehouse over multiple runs. Setting an appropriate lookback value can reduce duplicates but it can't fully eliminate them since some updates outside the lookback window won't be processed.
• Using ingested_at — Represents when data was ingested, (not when the event occurred). This is less semantically meaningful for the underlying data and may require more filtering during query time.

Here are some examples of recommended and not recommended event_time columns:

Status	Column name	Description
✅ Recommended	account_created_at	Represents the specific time when an account was created, making it a fixed event in time.
✅ Recommended	session_began_at	Captures the exact timestamp when a user session started, which won’t change and directly ties to the event.
❌ Not recommended	_fivetran_synced	This represents the time the event was ingested, not when it happened.
❌ Not recommended	last_updated_at	Changes over time and isn't tied to the event itself. If used, note the considerations mentioned earlier in best practices.

Examples

Models

Here's an example in the dbt_project.yml file:

dbt_project.yml

models:
  my_project:
    user_sessions:
      +event_time: session_start_time

Example in a properties YAML file:

models/properties.yml

models:
  - name: user_sessions
    config:
      event_time: session_start_time

Example in sql model config block:

models/user_sessions.sql

{{ config(
    event_time='session_start_time'
) }}

This setup sets session_start_time as the event_time for the user_sessions model.

Seeds

Here's an example in the dbt_project.yml file:

dbt_project.yml

seeds:
  my_project:
    my_seed:
      +event_time: record_timestamp

Example in a seed properties YAML:

seeds/properties.yml

seeds:
  - name: my_seed
    config:
      event_time: record_timestamp

This setup sets record_timestamp as the event_time for my_seed.

Snapshots

Here's an example in the dbt_project.yml file:

dbt_project.yml

snapshots:
  my_project:
    my_snapshot:
      +event_time: record_timestamp

Example in a snapshot properties YAML:

my_project/properties.yml

snapshots:
  - name: my_snapshot
    config:
      event_time: record_timestamp

This setup sets record_timestamp as the event_time for my_snapshot.

Sources

Here's an example of source properties YAML file:

models/properties.yml

sources:
  - name: source_name
    tables:
      - name: table_name
        config:
          event_time: event_timestamp

This setup sets event_timestamp as the event_time for the specified source table.