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CLI Reference

dbdocs is a click group with three sub-commands. Run dbdocs --help or dbdocs <command> --help for the canonical, always-up-to-date option list.

dbdocs --version
dbdocs --help

Global options

Option Description
-c, --config PATH Path to dbdocs.yml.
--version Show the dbdocs version and exit.
-h, --help Show help and exit.

dbdocs generate

Build the self-contained site from your dbt artifacts.

dbdocs generate
dbdocs generate -o public --dialect snowflake
Option Description
-o, --output-dir Where to write the site (overrides config).
--dialect SQL dialect for column lineage (overrides adapter_type).

Outputs index.html (everything baked in) plus a dbdocs-data.json companion into the output directory.

dbdocs serve

Serve the generated output directory over a static HTTP server. No live reload — re-run generate and refresh.

dbdocs serve
dbdocs serve --port 9000
Option Default Description
-p, --port 8000 Port to serve on.

dbdocs deploy

Generate a versioned build and maintain the version index. The result is a plain directory layout any static host serves as-is — see Versioned Deploy.

dbdocs deploy --version 1.2 --alias latest
dbdocs deploy --version 1.2 --delete
dbdocs deploy --version 1.2 --alias latest --push
Option Default Description
--version required Version label to deploy (e.g. 1.2).
--alias Moving alias for this version (e.g. latest).
--title the version Display title for this version.
--delete off Delete this version instead of deploying it.
--push / --no-push --no-push Publish to the gh-pages branch (opt-in).