---
title: "dbt sources with no owner | Metacenta"
description: "A dbt source is where data arrives from a system you do not control. Why each one needs a named owner, and how to set one that every table inherits."
url: "https://metacenta.com/rules/source-unowned"
updated: "2026-10-14"
tokens: 479
---

Ownership & accountability · rule source-unowned

# dbt sources with no owner

A Metacenta review checks this under the rule **Sources declare an owner**. Everything below applies whether or not you ever commission one.

## What this rule checks

Where a project owns sources through an owner-shaped `meta` key, this rule flags the source tables that carry none. dbt groups can't apply to sources, so a groups-only project isn't judged here.

## Why it matters

A source is the boundary where data arrives from a system this team does not control. With nobody named, a load that stops has no one to chase upstream.

## How to fix it

**Name an owner for each ingested source.** Set the project's owner key in the source's `meta`. Put it on the source block rather than each table, so every table under it inherits.

Before:

```yaml
sources:
  - name: stripe
    tables:
      - name: charges
```

After:

```yaml
sources:
  - name: stripe
    meta:
      owner: payments-team
    tables:
      - name: charges
```

## When it is fine to leave

A source owned in a data catalogue or ingestion tool, outside dbt, is owned in practice. The rule declines when the project has no `meta` owner convention for sources at all.

## What we need to check it

`manifest.json` alone.

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

## Related pages

- [dbt models with no owner](https://metacenta.com/rules/model-unowned)
- [dbt groups with no contactable owner](https://metacenta.com/rules/group-owner-unreachable)
- [dbt exposures with no contactable owner](https://metacenta.com/rules/exposure-owner-unreachable)
- [Dagster assets with no owner](https://metacenta.com/rules/dagster-asset-unowned)
- [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)