Not able to get columns for source, when defining unit test on a model that depends on source

[graciegoheen]

          @graciegoheen sure

I have built a dbt model (say model_a) which targets a database _analysis and depends on source table source_b in the database _raw. The model builds fine so I know that the model's not buggy but the unit test fails with the following error:

Compilation Error in model source_b (models/source.yml)
Not able to get columns for unit test 'source_b' from relation "_raw"."public"."source_b"

> in macro get_fixture_sql (macros/unit_test_sql/get_fixture_sql.sql)
> called by model source_b (models/source.yml)

- name: test_model_a
    description: "Test model_a model"
    model: model_a
    given: 
      - input: source('_raw', 'source_b')
        rows:
          - ...
      - input: ref('model_c')
        rows:
          - ...
    expect:
      rows:
        - ...

Additional Information:

• I don't have any unit tests defined for source_b
• "_raw"."public"."source_b" does exist on the database and is dbt profile is able to read from it (because the model get's built)
• the unit test works if I swap out source_b with a table materialized model of source_b in the unit test and the model for model_a.

I'm happy to share more and/or contribute to resolving this ticket.

Originally posted by @kd-nishanth in #9686 (comment)

[graciegoheen]

Hi @kd-nishanth - moved this conversation over to a new issue as I don't think this is related to the ephemeral model problem. The direct parents of the model that you’re unit testing (in your example, anything model_a depends on - source_b and model_c) need to exist in the warehouse before you can execute the unit test, because we need to know what field names and data types to use when constructing the unit test sql.

Given that:

• your source_b does exist on the database and is dbt profile is able to read from it
• the unit test works if you swap out source_b with a table materialized model of source_b in the unit test and the model for model_a

this is quite perplexing!

Could you do two things:

• check if you're able to run dbt docs generate for source_b
• send an example of what your source yml definition looks like for source_b

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