I'm not sure if this is the right channel for it, but I have a question on how Meltano uses dbt cloud. Does Meltano install the transformations locally like it installs taps/targets locally, or does Meltano just trigger whatever the transformation reside in dbt cloud?

Hi, @michael_cooper. Yep, you're in the right place! Technically,

dbt cloud

is just a friendly web gui hosted by Fishtown Analytics. The dbt cloud site is compatible with any dbt project, including Meltano dbt projects. So, to answer your question, technically, Meltano triggers the dbt command line tool and (assuming it's using the same profile and config), it's output will be identical to what is you'd run in dbt cloud. Meltano handles the install of dbt as well as the execution of your transforms. There are some out of box dbt transforms that Meltano will download for you automatically but most people end up working their own in the form of sql files that live inside the Meltano project folder. Does that answer your question? :)

Yes and no. I guess what I'm trying to get at is if I change a model or whatnot in dbt cloud, will the changes be reflected with every transformation, or will the changes only happen when I update the container running Meltano? For example with the taps and targets, if I make a change within the package repo, Meltano won't know about that change since it's only running the installed version of that tap/target. In order to get those changes, I have to either rebuild the container or I need to manually run

meltano install

Got it, yes, that makes sense. Thanks for explaining. We're looking at git integration in our roadmap but as of now, I think you'd need to rebuild+relaunch the container. https://meltano.com/docs/#may-2021

I guess what I'm trying to get at is if I change a model or whatnot in dbt cloud, will the changes be reflected with every transformation, or will the changes only happen when I update the container running Meltano?

Sorry for the dumb question, but what is the relationship between dbt Cloud and Meltano? i.e. what are you changing in dbt Cloud and why are you using both dbt Cloud and Meltano?