dbt-labs/dbt-core · error

Invalid relation type

Error message

Invalid relation type: {s}

What it means

Catch-all arm of From<&str> for RelationType: the string being converted is not one of the recognized relation-type literals ('table', 'view', 'cte', 'materialized_view', 'ephemeral', 'external', 'pointer_table', 'dynamic_table', 'streaming_table', 'metric_view'), so relation-type data coming from manifest JSON or user YAML cannot be mapped onto the enum.

Solutions

1. Correct the relation type string in the source YAML/manifest to one of the supported literals
2. Add the new literal as a match arm (plus a RelationType variant) if a genuinely new relation kind was introduced
3. Normalize the input (trim, lowercase) before calling RelationType::from

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/dbt-schemas/src/dbt_types.rs:119 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of dbt-labs/dbt-core@0267ce9170 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/509541ff8af21965. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/dbt-schemas/src/dbt_types.rs:119

}

impl From<&str> for RelationType {
    fn from(s: &str) -> Self {
        match s {
            "table" => RelationType::Table,
            "view" => RelationType::View,
            "cte" => RelationType::CTE,
            "materialized_view" => RelationType::MaterializedView,
            "ephemeral" => RelationType::Ephemeral,
            "external" => RelationType::External,
            "pointer_table" => RelationType::PointerTable,
            "dynamic_table" => RelationType::DynamicTable,
            "streaming_table" => RelationType::StreamingTable,
            "metric_view" => RelationType::MetricView,
            "function" => RelationType::Function,
            "interactive_table" => RelationType::InteractiveTable,
            "dictionary" => RelationType::Dictionary,
            _ => panic!("Invalid relation type: {s}"),
        }
    }
}

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::*;
    use std::collections::HashMap;

    #[test]
    fn dictionary_relation_type_round_trips() {
        let rt = RelationType::from("dictionary");
        assert_eq!(rt, RelationType::Dictionary);
        assert_eq!(rt.to_string(), "dictionary");
    }

    #[test]
    fn spark_real_types_resolve_to_table_or_view() {

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