[Feature] Unit tests should support being set as enabled or not

[joellabes]

Is this your first time submitting a feature request?

• I have read the expectations for open source contributors
• I have searched the existing issues, and I could not find an existing issue for this feature
• I am requesting a straightforward extension of existing dbt functionality, rather than a Big Idea better suited to a discussion

Describe the feature

Data tests can be disabled:

models: 
  - name: my_model
    columns: 
      - name: my_column
        tests: 
          - unique:
              config:
                enabled: false

But unit tests can't:

unit_tests: 
  - name: my_unit_test
    ...
    config:
      enabled: {{ target.type == 'bigquery' }} #doesn't work

I would like to be able to disable unit tests like every other node type in my project.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Michelle suggested using tags:

  - name: my_unit_test
    model: my_model
    ...
    config:
      tags: [bq_only]

and a command like dbt --target bigquery test -s test_type:unit --exclude tag:bq_only

which is, like, fine, but not as elegant.

Who will this benefit?

My specific use case is having unit tests for a dbt package to run in CI, but having some tests which should only run against a specific platform (e.g. unit testing BQ struct behaviour).

Are you interested in contributing this feature?

No response

Anything else?

No response

[dbeatty10]

What do you think @graciegoheen ?

enabled can be configured for all the other resource types that I tried out:

• models
• seeds
• snapshots
• sources
• exposures
• semantic models
• generic data tests
• singular data tests
• analyses

resource type	dbt_project.yml	properties YAML	config() macro
models	✅	✅	✅
snapshots	✅	✅	✅
seeds	✅	✅	❌
sources	✅	✅	❌
exposures	✅	✅	❌
semantic models	✅	✅	❌
analyses	❌	✅	✅
singular data tests	✅	❌	✅
generic data tests	✅	✅	❌
unit tests	❌	❌	❌

Example files

models/metricflow_time_spine.sql

{{ config(materialized='table') }}

select cast({{ dbt.string_literal("2000-01-01") }} as date) as date_day

Note: singular data tests can't be disabled within a YAML file (like models/_properties.yml, but either dbt_project.yml or config() within SQL file are options.

tests/singular_data_test.sql

-- { { config(enabled=false) }}

select *
from {{ ref('metricflow_time_spine' )}}
where 0=1

snapshots/my_snapshot.sql

{% snapshot my_snapshot %}

{{
    config(
      target_database=target.database,
      target_schema=target.schema,
      unique_key='id',
      strategy='check',
      check_cols='all',
    )
}}

select 1 as id

{% endsnapshot %}

seeds/my_seed.csv

id
1

Note: analyses can't be selectively disabled within dbt_project.yml -- they inherit the config from models within dbt_project.yml.

analyses/my_analysis.sql

-- { { config(enabled=false) }}

select 1 as id

models/_properties.yml

models:
  - name: metricflow_time_spine
    config:
      enabled: true
    columns:
      - name: date_day
        data_tests:
          - not_null:
              name: generic_data_test
              config:
                enabled: true

sources:
  - name: my_source
    tables:
      - name: my_source_table
    config:
      enabled: true

seeds:
  - name: my_seed
    config:
      enabled: true

snapshots:
  - name: my_snapshot
    config:
      enabled: true

analyses:
  - name: my_analysis
    config:
      enabled: true

exposures:
  - name: my_exposure
    type: dashboard
    owner:
      email: exposure_owner@my_company.com
    config:
      enabled: true

metrics:
  - name: my_metric
    label: my_metric
    type: derived
    type_params:
      expr: revenue - cost
    config:
      enabled: true

semantic_models:
  - name: my_semantic_model
    model: ref('metricflow_time_spine')
    config:
      enabled: true

saved_queries:
  - name: my_saved_query
    query_params:
      metrics:
        - my_metric
    config:
      enabled: true

unit_tests:
  - name: my_unit_test
    given: []
    model: metricflow_time_spine
    expect:
      rows:
        - {date_day: 2000-01-01}
    # Note: this does NOT have any effect
    # So need to comment out or delete this unit test if its associated model(s) are disabled
    config:
      enabled: true

dbt_project.yml

name: "my_project"

# Note: also disables analyses!
models:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

seeds:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

snapshots:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

sources:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

exposures:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

metrics:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

# Note: inconsistent to have "semantic-models" with a dash, but "data_tests" and "unit_tests" with underscores
semantic-models:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

# Note: this has no effect -- must configure within properties.yml or config() within the analysis file
analyses:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

data_tests:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

# This has no effect -- there is no way to disable a unit test outside of commenting it out or excluding it from the selection.
# It will give the following warning:
#   [WARNING]: Configuration paths exist in your dbt_project.yml file which do not apply to any resources.
#   There are 1 unused configuration paths:
#   - unit_tests.my_project
unit_tests:
  my_project:
    +enabled: true

Run this command to see which resources are enabled:

dbt list --resource-type all

Then change the enabled config for one or more resources and re-run the dbt list command above to see if it disappears or not.

[graciegoheen]

We actually already have an issue for this -> #9109

[dbeatty10]

Closing as a duplicate of #9109

[joellabes]

oops my bad 😬 ty both!