---
title: "dbt source groups with no description | Metacenta"
description: "Each table can be documented while nothing says what the system behind a dbt source is. How to describe the group as well as its tables."
url: "https://metacenta.com/rules/source-parent-undocumented"
updated: "2026-10-14"
tokens: 612
---

Documentation · rule source-parent-undocumented

# dbt source groups with no description

A Metacenta review checks this under the rule **Each source group carries a description**. Everything below applies whether or not you ever commission one.

## What this rule checks

This rule flags each dbt source group (a `sources:` entry) with no `description` of its own, even when its tables have one.

## Why it matters

The tables may each be documented, but nothing says what the system behind them is, how it loads, or who to ask when it stops.

## How to fix it

**Describe every source group.** Add a `description:` to the `sources:` entry, above its `tables:`. Say what the system is, how the data arrives, and who owns it.

Before:

```yaml
sources:
  - name: stripe
    tables:
      - name: charges
        description: One row per charge.
```

After:

```yaml
sources:
  - name: stripe
    description: >
      Stripe payments data, synced every 30 minutes by the
      ingestion tool. Owned by the payments team.
    tables:
      - name: charges
        description: One row per charge.
```

## When it is fine to leave

A group with a single table, where the table's description already covers the system, loses little. Most groups have several tables and one owner, and the group is where that belongs.

## What we need to check it

`manifest.json` alone. The score does not count this rule, because a project with one source group would otherwise swing on one missing sentence.

## Published rules it corresponds to

**[dbt_project_evaluator](https://dbt-labs.github.io/dbt-project-evaluator/)**, rule `fct_undocumented_sources`. Ours checks the same condition and threshold.

This means our check corresponds to their rule. It does not mean the publisher reviewed or endorses it.

[Ask about a review](https://metacenta.com/enquire?src=rule-source-parent-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)