---
title: "dbt metrics with no description | Metacenta"
description: "The people who read a metric by name are the least able to open its definition. What a dbt metric description should say, and why it matters most there."
url: "https://metacenta.com/rules/metric-undocumented"
updated: "2026-10-14"
tokens: 531
---

Documentation · rule metric-undocumented

# dbt metrics with no description

A Metacenta review checks this under the rule **Metrics say what they measure**. Everything below applies whether or not you ever commission one.

## What this rule checks

This rule flags every metric in a dbt semantic layer with no `description`. A `label` alone does not count, because it names the metric rather than defining it.

## Why it matters

The people who read a metric by name are the least able to open its definition. Two teams can quote the same label and mean different numbers, and neither can tell from the dashboard.

## How to fix it

**Describe what every metric counts and excludes.** Describe what the metric counts and what it excludes: refunds, currency, and which date it is measured by.

Before:

```yaml
metrics:
  - name: net_revenue
    label: Net revenue
    type: simple
    type_params:
      measure: order_total
```

After:

```yaml
metrics:
  - name: net_revenue
    label: Net revenue
    description: >
      Order value after discounts and full refunds, before tax,
      in GBP, by the date the order was placed.
    type: simple
    type_params:
      measure: order_total
```

## When it is fine to leave

Rarely. A metric exists to be read by people who won't open its YAML. A project with no metrics isn't judged at all; whether to define them is a choice, not a finding.

## What we need to check it

`manifest.json` from a project that defines metrics.

[Ask about a review](https://metacenta.com/enquire?src=rule-metric-undocumented&via=md)

## Related pages

- [dbt models with no description](https://metacenta.com/rules/model-undocumented)
- [dbt columns with no description](https://metacenta.com/rules/model-columns-undocumented)
- [dbt models that declare no columns](https://metacenta.com/rules/model-no-column-schema)
- [dbt sources with no description](https://metacenta.com/rules/source-undocumented)
- [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)