🚀 DBT Sandbox Environment in GitHub Codespaces Template

Welcome to the DBT Sandbox Environment! This GitHub Codespace template lets you (and anyone else) spin up a fully-functional dbt development environment with just a few clicks.

✨ Once set up, you'll have:

• A complete dbt environment ready to go.
• A connection to a DuckDB database.
• One year of data from the fictional Jaffle Shop café to work with.

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Step 1: Create Your Repository

Click the big green 'Use this template' button, then select 'Create a new repository'.

⚠️ Note: Make sure to create the repository in your personal GitHub space and not under moj-analytical-services or any other organization.

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Step 2: Launch Your Codespace

Navigate to 'Code', select 'Codespaces', and click 'Create codespace on main'.

This will set up a sandboxed development container with everything pre-configured for your dbt project.

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Step 3: Patience Is Key

Setting up the codespace takes about 4 minutes. 🕒

Perfect time to brew yourself a nice cup of tea ☕️.

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Step 4: Run Your First dbt Command

Once the setup is complete, navigate to the terminal in your Codespace environment and run:

dbt build

You should see something like :

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Step 5: **Install a DuckDB connector extension **

To view and query your dbt transformation results directly in your Codespace, you'll need to install a DuckDB-compatible extension.

We recommend installing the SQLTools extension in VS Code for this purpose, togother with the DuckDB driver for SQLTools

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💡 SQLTools Configuration Tips:

• Once installed, configure SQLTools to connect to your DuckDB database, which exists in /reports/jaffle_shop.duckdband you'll be able to explore your transformed data with ease!

• when asked about the location of your DB when creating the connection just put /workspaces/{NAME_OF_YOUR_REPO}/reports/jaffle_shop.duckdb taking care to change {NAME_OF_YOUR_REPO} to the name of your repo !

• you might be asked to install a few bits the first time ... Just install them.

• sqlfluff can be uninstalled or muted as it constantly spamming messages that are not at the moment important.

• Also remember that when connected for the first time to the DuckDB database to run SET SCHEMA 'analytics'; so you can see the result of your dbt transformations

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Step 6: 🛠 What to do after installing the codespace in your repo and setting everything up:

Once your Codespace is up and running, it’s time to dive into the project files and make some changes. Start by exploring the following:

• /models/marts/__models.yml
• /models/marts/orders_with_random_number.sql

🔍 What to Do:

1. Open orders_with_random_number.sql and make some modifications.
2. Save your changes.
3. Run the following command to rebuild your models and see the results:

dbt build

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Step 7: Sandbox Environment: Your Learning Playground 🌱

Now that you're familiar with the development feedback loop, you have a powerful sandbox environment at your fingertips. This space is designed for experimentation and learning, allowing you to dive deep into all the intricacies of dbt. Whether it's refining models, testing transformations you can use this opportunity to master dbt workflows in a safe and controlled environment

Step 8: 🛠 Persist Your Changes Using Git

Once you've made updates and tested your transformations, it's important to save and persist your changes to your repository. Use the following Git commands:

1. Check the status of your changes:

git status

2. Stage all your changes:

git add .

3. Commit your updates with a descriptive message:

git commit -m "Describe your changes here"

4. Push your changes to the main branch:

git push origin main