---
title: "dbt sources with no description | Metacenta"
description: "A dbt source table with no description leaves every reader guessing what the upstream system sends and who owns it. What to write and where."
url: "https://metacenta.com/rules/source-undocumented"
updated: "2026-10-14"
tokens: 582
---

Documentation · rule source-undocumented

# dbt sources with no description

A Metacenta review checks this under the rule **Sources carry a description**. Everything below applies whether or not you ever commission one.

## What this rule checks

This rule flags every dbt source table whose `description` is empty. It checks each table under a `sources:` entry; the entry itself has a rule of its own.

## Why it matters

Nobody downstream knows what the upstream system actually sends, or who to ask when it changes. The knowledge sits with whoever built the pipeline, and leaves with them.

## How to fix it

**Document the sources and name their owners.** Add a `description:` to each source table saying what it holds and how it arrives. Name an owner in the source's `meta`, so there is somebody to ask.

Before:

```yaml
sources:
  - name: shop
    tables:
      - name: orders
```

After:

```yaml
sources:
  - name: shop
    meta:
      owner: payments-team
    tables:
      - name: orders
        description: Orders from the shop database, loaded hourly. Deleted orders stay, flagged in `is_deleted`.
```

## When it is fine to leave

A table whose meaning is obvious from a well-described source group can go without. The group itself still needs a description; a separate rule checks that.

## What we need to check it

`manifest.json` alone.

## Published rules it corresponds to

**[dbt_project_evaluator](https://dbt-labs.github.io/dbt-project-evaluator/)**, rule `fct_undocumented_source_tables`. 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-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 source groups with no description](https://metacenta.com/rules/source-parent-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)