Generate documentation

DinoAI can document an entire folder of models at once, complete with column descriptions and appropriate tests. In this guide you generate schema.yml documentation for a directory of models.

Prerequisites

DinoAI copilot access in your Paradime workspace.
A dbt™ project with models to document.

Estimated time: 5 minutes.

Steps

Add a directory as context

In DinoAI, click the ”@” symbol and add the folder of models you want to document as context.

Directory context is especially powerful for documentation tasks, since it lets DinoAI document many models in a single pass.

Enter your prompt

Ask DinoAI to document the models. For example:

I have a bunch of new files in my Marts folder. Can you document these for me?

DinoAI scans all models in the directory, analyzes each model’s structure, column names, and relationships, and generates schema.yml files with model descriptions, column descriptions, and tests. If configured, it follows your .dinorules documentation standards.

Review the generated documentation

Review the output before accepting it. Each model gets a description, and each column gets a description with tests where appropriate.

.yml file example

version: 2

models:
  - name: int_f1_race_results_by_constructor
    description: "This model combines race results with constructor information to analyze performance by constructor across different races and seasons."
    columns:
      - name: race_id
        description: "Unique identifier for each race event"
        tests:
          - not_null

      - name: year
        description: "The year in which the race took place"
        tests:
          - not_null

      - name: race_name
        description: "The official name of the race event"

      # Additional columns with descriptions and tests...

Accept the changes

Accept the changes to write the schema.yml files into your project.

Each model in the folder now has a description, column descriptions, and tests in its schema.yml file. If any model was skipped, confirm it was included in the directory context and re-run the prompt.

Next steps

Configure data pipelines

Set materializations, schemas, and tags for your models.

Build marts models

Combine multiple models with business logic.

DinoAI use cases

Explore more ways to work with DinoAI.

Copilot reference

How context and Agent Mode work.

Foundations

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Set up & configure

Orchestrate data pipelines

Migrate to Paradime

Develop in Paradime

Learn dbt™

Generate documentation

Steps

Next steps

Configure data pipelines

Build marts models

DinoAI use cases

Copilot reference

​Steps

​Next steps

Configure data pipelines

Build marts models

DinoAI use cases

Copilot reference

Steps

Next steps