LookML and dbt

[Dr__Strangelove]

Silja Märdla recently published this article on LinkedIn - Exposing dbt Models in Looker. She describes the dbt <-> LookML integration that she built at Bolt.

We in Looker Developer Relations are interested in finding out from the community what kind of integrations with dbt would be useful, what use cases are customers looking to solve, and how we might deliver this.

Please reply with any details that you might have so that we can plan future features.

[magnus-ffcg]

dbt models + dbt semantic layer would be awesome to have as built in integration for generating views. I guess Explores is hard to generate out of this. I would happy to let google access a storage bucket containing the dbt output.

I am imaging a base layer with auto-generated views that you can later extend in a second layer. 
(via project import)

[rif]

Others might find other resources helpful for this problem space of generating LookerML from DBT. 

1) Lightdash https://github.com/lightdash/dbt2looker 
2) dbt Exposures to LookerML https://github.com/danafholmes/looker_dbt_exposure_generator  - Once maintaining DBT
2.1) Exposures might want to have a look at https://github.com/elementary-data/elementary  dbt-native data observability for analytics & data engineers
3) Mariana Fernandes - seamlessly sync data tables to Looker - https://medium.com/@GetGround/introducing-optician-seamlessly-sync-data-tables-to-looker-d23da9df8af... 

[rif]

Looker Data Dictionary to pull in metadata directly from DBT models/ DBT Docs manifest. Additionally, enhancing Looker's search (made a feature request for this already ) capabilities to match the level of search available in DBT Docs would streamline workflows, allowing users to rely solely on Looker for their data exploration and documentation needs.

[Wiktor_Jurek]

I'm going to hijack this thread and give my .2c on how I think Looker could be better integrated with BigQuery and Dataform (Googs dbt).

Description Sync: Syncing descriptions of tables and columns from a data form repository to BigQuery to Looker would mean we don't have to manage two separate instances of description fields. Currently, our tables and columns are described both in the SQLX files and LookML files. We have to maintain and repeat our definitions for no good reason.

Lineage Tracking: Linking Looker explores and dashboards back to the underlying Dataform code (SQLX files, definitions, etc.) would provide valuable context and traceability. This already happens with Looker Studio.

Better Orchestration integration points: Instead of relying solely on Looker's built-in PDT scheduling, it would be great to have integration points with Composer to trigger PDT creation. This would allow us to manage the entire data pipeline, including PDT generation, from a central location.