Catalog

In the Catalog tab of the bottom panel, view and edit your dbt™ docs without context switching. Paradime will sync changes from the UI back to your dbt™ project’s .yml files with each edit, ensuring consistency across your project.

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Creating and Editing Documentation

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Step-by-Step Guide

1. Click Catalog to view and edit your dbt™ project’s documentation in real time. By default, you’ll see a catalog preview; expand it to utilize all catalog features.
2. Make your desired edits:
   • Model Classification
     • Edit existing classifications in the meta section
     • Add new classifications
   • Model Description
     • Type your model description manually
     • Use the text formatting toolbar for better readability
     • Alternatively, use DinoAI to autogenerate an in-depth, context-specific description

• Column Details
  • Edit individual column descriptions
  • Add or modify column classifications (e.g., [primary_key, true])

3. Click Save Changes to apply your edits
4. When finished, commit and push your git branch
   • The edits you made in the UI will be reflected in the corresponding .yml file

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Available Documentation Features

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Refresh your development catalog

Click Refresh in the header row of the Catalog tab, beside the Description and Columns tabs, to rebuild your development catalog. Paradime runs dbt docs generate on your current branch with your development credentials, then builds the catalog from the result. The button reads Refreshing while it runs. You need editor access to refresh, and you can run one refresh at a time. You can keep working while it runs. The status line beside the button shows each stage:

• Refreshing · starting…
• Refreshing · running dbt™ docs generate, with the time so far. After your first refreshes, it adds how long a refresh usually takes, for example usually about 3 min.
• Refreshing · building the catalog…
• Last updated just now, with a notification that the catalog was refreshed and how long it took.

When nothing is refreshing, the status line shows the state of your development catalog, for example Last updated 3 hours ago or Catalog not built yet.

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When a refresh fails

The status line reads Refresh failed, with the time of the last good build if there is one. The failure leads with its cause and a note on whether it needs a change on your side or should clear on the next refresh.

• If the tab has docs to show, the failure is one line above them, with Show error to open the dbt™ output.
• If there is nothing else to show, the failure fills the tab, with the dbt™ output open.

Either way, click Fix with DinoAI to hand the failure to DinoAI. It fixes causes in your project, such as a broken model, and explains causes outside it, such as a warehouse login that fails.

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When there are no docs to show

If the Catalog tab has nothing to display, it says why:

• Nothing is open in the editor: No file is open right now. Open a dbt™ model to see its docs.
• The open file isn’t one the catalog documents, for example a YAML file: the tab reminds you that the catalog covers dbt™ models, sources, and seeds.
• Your development catalog hasn’t been built: Your catalog hasn’t been built yet. Click Refresh to build it. The first build takes a few minutes.
• The first build is running: Building your catalog. You get a notification when it’s ready.
• The model isn’t in your development catalog yet, for example because it’s new: No docs for the file. Click Refresh to pick it up.
• The lookup itself failed: Could not load docs, with the error underneath.