[Bug] Intermittent errors when unit testing versioned models

[CarrotPapa]

Is this a new bug in dbt-core?

• I believe this is a new bug in dbt-core
• I have searched the existing issues, and I could not find an existing issue for this bug

Current Behavior

Encountering an intermittent error during unit testing of versioned models. The error resolved after removing the associated unit tests.

❯ poetry run dbt compile
05:50:12 Running with dbt=1.9.0
05:50:14 Registered adapter: bigquery=1.9.0
05:50:14 Unable to do partial parsing because saved manifest not found. Starting full parse.
05:50:17 Encountered an error:
Parsing Error
Unit test 'test_model' references a model that does not exist: model.my_project.model

Expected Behavior

When it worked, it looks like the following:

❯ poetry run dbt compile
05:53:33 Running with dbt=1.9.0
05:53:34 Registered adapter: bigquery=1.9.0
05:53:35 Unable to do partial parsing because saved manifest not found. Starting full parse.
05:53:39 Found 109 models, 2 operations, 34 data tests, 25 sources, 4 exposures, 1462 macros, 36 unit tests
05:53:39
05:53:39 Concurrency: 20 threads (target='default')

Steps To Reproduce

model.sql:

select * from {{ ref("table_a") }}

model_v2.sql:

select * from {{ ref("table_a") }}

schema.yml:

version: 2

models:
  - name: model
    latest_version: 1
    versions:
      - v: 2
        defined_in: model_v2
      - v: 1
        defined_in: model
        config:
          alias: model

test_model.yml:

unit_tests:
  - name: test_model
    model: model
    versions:
      include:
        - 2
    given:
      - input: ref('table_a')
        format: csv
        fixture: fixture_table_a
    expect:
      rows:
        - ...

Relevant log output

No response

Environment

- OS: macOS 14.7
- Python: 3.11.6
- dbt: 1.9.0

Which database adapter are you using with dbt?

bigquery

Additional Context

No response

[dbeatty10]

@CarrotPapa Thanks for such a nice write-up with detailed listing of your project files, commands, and output 🤩

Intermittent errors are tough to debug! I tried out an example nearly the identical to the one you provided, but I wasn't able to trigger the error. See below for the files I used.

I suspect it is some kind of issue related to cached files in your target directory. If you either rename your target directory to stash it to the side (or delete it entirely), do you still get that error to crop up?

Project files

models/table_a.sql

select 1 as id

models/model.sql

select * from {{ ref("table_a") }}

models/model_v2.sql

select * from {{ ref("table_a") }}

models/schema.yml

version: 2

models:
  - name: model
    latest_version: 1
    versions:
      - v: 2
        defined_in: model_v2
      - v: 1
        defined_in: model
        config:
          alias: model

models/test_model.yml

unit_tests:
  - name: test_model
    model: model
    versions:
      include:
        - 2
    given:
      - input: ref('table_a')
        rows:
          - {id: 2}
    expect:
        rows:
          - {id: 2}

Ran this command:

dbt compile 

Got this output:

(dbt_1.9) $ dbt compile                     
01:36:03  Running with dbt=1.9.0
01:36:04  Registered adapter: duckdb=1.9.1
01:36:04  Found 3 models, 422 macros, 1 unit test
01:36:04  
01:36:04  Concurrency: 1 threads (target='duckdb')
01:36:04  
(dbt_1.9) $ 

[CarrotPapa]

Thanks @dbeatty10 for taking a look at the issue.
I forgot to mention that I actually deleted the target directory between each dbt compile.
I will try to set up a clean project and see if I'm able to reproduce the issue.

[CarrotPapa]

I have figured out how to reliably reproduce the intermittent errors. It seems the key is to place the unit tests in a separate directory (e.g. tests).

❯ rm -rf target; poetry run dbt compile
06:28:49  Running with dbt=1.9.0
06:28:50  Registered adapter: bigquery=1.9.0
06:28:50  Unable to do partial parsing because saved manifest not found. Starting full parse.
06:28:51  Found 3 models, 487 macros, 1 unit test
06:28:51  
06:28:51  Concurrency: 20 threads (target='default')
06:28:51  
❯ rm -rf target; poetry run dbt compile
06:29:00  Running with dbt=1.9.0
06:29:01  Registered adapter: bigquery=1.9.0
06:29:01  Unable to do partial parsing because saved manifest not found. Starting full parse.
06:29:02  Encountered an error:
Parsing Error
  Unit test 'test_model' references a model that does not exist: model.my_dbt_project.model