---
title: "Widely read dbt models with no tests | Metacenta"
description: "The most-read model in a project with no test is where a silent error does the most damage. How we combine query history with dbt tests to find it."
url: "https://metacenta.com/rules/warehouse-hot-model-untested"
updated: "2026-10-14"
tokens: 529
---

Consumption & cost · rule warehouse-hot-model-untested

# Widely read dbt models with no tests

A Metacenta review checks this under the rule **Widely-read models have at least one test**. Everything below applies whether or not you ever commission one.

## What this rule checks

This rule flags dbt models read by at least five different people in the collection window that have no test. Neither half is new; the value is the intersection of the two.

## Why it matters

Nothing would catch a duplicate row, a null key or a silent upstream change before the people relying on it did. They are the ones who would find out, usually in a meeting.

## How to fix it

**Test the models people query most.** Add a uniqueness test on the model's grain and `not_null` on the keys it joins by. Start here: these are the untested models with the most readers.

Before:

```yaml
models:
  - name: fct_orders
```

After:

```yaml
models:
  - name: fct_orders
    columns:
      - name: order_id
        data_tests:
          - unique
          - not_null
```

## When it is fine to leave

A model tested by a check outside dbt, such as a data observability tool, is covered in practice. Tell us, and the finding comes out of your report.

## What we need to check it

`manifest.json` and warehouse query history that reports distinct readers. Without reader counts the rule declines, because a widely read model cannot be told from a heavily scheduled one.

[Ask about a review](https://metacenta.com/enquire?src=rule-warehouse-hot-model-untested&via=md)

## Related pages

- [dbt models nobody queries](https://metacenta.com/rules/warehouse-model-never-read)
- [One dbt model dominating warehouse scans](https://metacenta.com/rules/warehouse-scan-hotspot)
- [Snowflake warehouses that never suspend](https://metacenta.com/rules/tf-warehouse-never-suspends)
- [Dashboards nobody opens](https://metacenta.com/rules/bi-dashboard-unviewed)
- [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)