---
title: "dbt models that do not exist in the warehouse | Metacenta"
description: "A dbt model declared in the project but absent from the warehouse fails anything that selects from it. How we tell absent from out of scope."
url: "https://metacenta.com/rules/catalog-model-not-built"
updated: "2026-10-14"
tokens: 504
---

Modelling correctness · rule catalog-model-not-built

# dbt models that do not exist in the warehouse

A Metacenta review checks this under the rule **Declared models exist in the warehouse**. Everything below applies whether or not you ever commission one.

## What this rule checks

This rule flags models declared in the project that are missing from the catalog. It runs only when the catalog covers at least 80% of the project's models. It declines if the adapter reported any introspection error.

## Why it matters

Anything selecting from the model in that environment fails. Its absence is invisible to any run that never selected it, so nobody learns until a query breaks.

## How to fix it

**Build or retire the models missing from the warehouse.** Build the model, or retire it from the project if it is no longer wanted.

## When it is fine to leave

A model that is deliberately built only in another environment will be absent here. Tell us, and the finding comes out of your report. Ephemeral models are never judged, because dbt never builds them as a relation.

## What we need to check it

`manifest.json` and `catalog.json`, generated together by `dbt docs generate`. A catalog made with `--select`, covering under 80% of models, is too partial to use, so the rule declines.

[Ask about a review](https://metacenta.com/enquire?src=rule-catalog-model-not-built&via=md)

## Related pages

- [dbt incremental models: how unique_key works](https://metacenta.com/rules/incremental-without-unique-key)
- [dbt public models with no enforced contract](https://metacenta.com/rules/public-model-without-contract)
- [dbt sources declared twice for one table](https://metacenta.com/rules/duplicate-source)
- [dbt staging models: how to set up the staging layer](https://metacenta.com/rules/staging-depends-on-staging)
- [A sample review, as a client reads it](https://metacenta.com/sample)
- [All published rules](https://metacenta.com/rules)
- [How a review is assessed](https://metacenta.com/standard)