Demonstrate and explain config meta key nesting

[dbeatty10]

Contributions

• I have read the contribution docs, and understand what's expected of me.

Link to the page on docs.getdbt.com requiring updates

https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/resource-configs/meta

What part(s) of the page would you like to see updated?

1. Update examples in meta docs

We want to update all the examples within the meta docs to nest the meta key under the config key in the all right places.

2. Update "general configurations" examples for each resource type

Not all of the following pages includes the usage of meta underneath the Project file, Property file and Config block tabs:

• ✅ models
• ✅ seeds
• ❌ snapshots
• ❌ sources
• ✅ tests

i.e., Both snapshots and sources need to have meta added to all the relevant tabs, but the rest of the resource types have meta included already.

Side note: these resource types don't have config documentation pages, and meta may or may not be relevant for each:

• ❌ analyses
• ❌ exposures
• ❌ macros

3. Add more explanation

In order for meta dictionaries to merge with a more specific key-value pair replacing a less specific value with the same key:

• For all* resource types in _properties.yml files:
  • put meta under config:

    config:
        meta:
            ...

• Within dbt_project.yml don't use config:
  • use a top-level meta key instead.

* For models only - meta also works as a top-level key (but better to use consistent syntax across resource types).

Additional information

For some background, see here (and the preceding thread).

See also:

• Nest Exposure node meta under config dbt-core#9446
• Nest Macro node meta under config dbt-core#9447