State-Based Selection Inconsistency

warning

configurationUpdated Feb 13, 2026

Detects issues with state:modified selection when manifest.json is overwritten prematurely, causing dbt to miss changed models in CI/CD pipelines.

Sources

Caveats to state comparison | dbt Developer Hubdocs.getdbt.com

Best practices for workflows | dbt Developer Hubdocs.getdbt.com

Technologies:

dbtSymptoms of this issue are visible in dbt metrics and logs

dbt.state.manifest_missing_count

dbt.state.modified_model_count

dbt.job.state_comparison_error_count

How to detect:

Monitor for 'saved manifest not found' warnings or unexpected behavior where state:modified returns no results despite known changes. Track manifest file timestamps and compare to job execution times.

Recommended action:

Separate --state and --target-path to different directories. Move manifest.json to a dedicated state/ folder after generation, or pass --no-write-json during comparison stages. Update CI workflows to preserve manifest files between build and comparison stages.