dbt-labs/dbt-core · error

events_last_year should compile without error

Error message

events_last_year should compile without error

What it means

Test-only panic: compiling an `events_last_year` time-offset metric spec for DuckDB failed, tripping `.expect("events_last_year should compile without error")`. The test additionally requires the generated SQL to contain an INTERVAL expression, so this specific case guards 1-year offset SQL generation.

Source

Thrown at crates/dbt-metricflow/src/lib.rs:11294

            }],
        ));

        let spec = SemanticQuerySpec {
            metrics: vec!["events_last_year".into()],
            group_by: vec![GroupBySpec::TimeDimension {
                name: "metric_time".into(),
                granularity: "month".into(),
                date_part: None,
            }],
            where_filters: vec![],
            order_by: vec![],
            limit: None,
            time_constraint: None,
            apply_group_by: true,
        };

        let sql = compile(&mut store, &spec, Dialect::DuckDB)
            .expect("events_last_year should compile without error");

        assert!(
            sql.contains("INTERVAL"),
            "SQL must contain an INTERVAL expression for the 1-year offset\n  SQL:\n{sql}"
        );
        assert!(
            sql.contains("INNER JOIN"),
            "offset CTE must use an INNER JOIN to apply the time shift\n  SQL:\n{sql}"
        );
    }

    #[test]
    fn test_filter_on_outer_derived_metric_propagates_to_inputs() {
        let mut store = MockStore::new();

        store.metrics.push(RawMetricRow {
            name: "count_nps".into(),
            metric_type: "simple".into(),

View on GitHub (pinned to 0267ce9170)

Solutions

1. Read the underlying compile Err / assert message for the missing piece
2. Ensure the metric has a valid primary time dimension and the offset (1 year) is supported
3. Check the DuckDB SQL renderer for INTERVAL emission on time offsets
4. Update the compiler change that regressed offset metric SQL

Example fix

null

// ensure required time params before compile
assert!(spec.metric.is_some(), "spec must target events_last_year metric");
assert!(spec.apply_group_by, "group_by required for offset metrics");

let sql = compile(&mut store, &spec, Dialect::DuckDB)
    .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("events_last_year compile failed: {e:?}"));

When it happens

Trigger: `compile` returns Err for the events_last_year spec (missing metric aggregation params, unsupported time offset, or grain/time-spine issues), or the compiled SQL lacks INTERVAL which a later assert catches.

Common situations: Regressions in time-offset metric compilation; DuckDB dialect losing INTERVAL rendering for year offsets; metric store missing required time dimension or time spine config.

Understand the failure class

Background: "query failed", "%w: SQL error" — wrapped database query errors in Go libraries explained — this error's family across 3 libraries.

Related errors

• yoy_growth should compile without error
• new-style cumulative metric should compile without error
• clean_sql
• invalid return value
• Compilation Error for {} from {}: {}

AI-assisted analysis of dbt-labs/dbt-core@0267ce9170 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b73fbee3c5759051. Report an issue: GitHub.