What causes "project in a GrantAccessToTarget cannot be empty" in dbt-labs/dbt-core?

Add the `project` key with the target GCP project id to the grant target dict.

dbt-labs/dbt-core · error · minijinja::Error::InvalidOperation

project in a GrantAccessToTarget cannot be empty

Error message

project in a GrantAccessToTarget cannot be empty

What it means

After successfully deserializing GrantAccessToTarget, grant_access_to() requires a non-empty `project` because BigQuery authorized views/grants are granted across projects. If grant_target.project is absent or None, this InvalidOperation error is raised stating that project cannot be empty.

Solutions

Add the `project` key with the target GCP project id to the grant target dict.
Verify the model's grants configuration supplies the full target ({project, dataset}).
If the target is in the same project, still pass its explicit project id rather than omitting it.
Update custom grant macros to require and forward the project field.

Example fix

// before
{% do adapter.grant_access_to(entity, 'view', 'viewer', {'dataset': 'shared_data'}) %}

// after
{% do adapter.grant_access_to(entity, 'view', 'viewer', {'project': 'my-gcp-project', 'dataset': 'shared_data'}) %}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

{% if grant_target.get('project') is defined and grant_target.get('project') is not none %}
  {% do adapter.grant_access_to(entity, 'view', 'viewer', grant_target) %}
{% else %}
  {{ exceptions.raise_compiler_error("grant target requires a non-empty project") }}
{% endif %}

Prevention

Always include project in grant target dicts, even within the same GCP project
Check grant configuration completeness before running grants
Add assertions in custom grant macros for required fields

When it happens

Trigger: adapter.grant_access_to(entity, entity_type, role, {'dataset': 'analytics'}) — the dict deserializes (project is optional in the struct) but is missing the project key, or project is explicitly null, when granting access to a target in another project.

Common situations: Authorized-view setups in BigQuery where the shared dataset lives in a different GCP project and users omit `project` assuming it defaults to the target's project; templates migrated from Python dbt where None project was tolerated differently.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must not be empty", "cannot be empty" — required-field validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of dbt-labs/dbt-core@0267ce9170 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/67f553d2a8b3f35d. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/dbt-adapter/src/adapter/mod.rs:2296

                    args,
                );
                let entity_val = iter.next_arg::<&Value>()?;
                let entity_type = iter.next_arg::<&str>()?;
                let role_val = iter.next_arg::<&Value>()?;
                let grant_target_dict = iter.next_arg::<&Value>()?;
                let grant_target = minijinja_value_to_typed_struct::<GrantAccessToTarget>(
                    grant_target_dict.clone(),
                )
                .map_err(|e| {
                    minijinja::Error::new(
                        minijinja::ErrorKind::SerdeDeserializeError,
                        e.to_string(),
                    )
                })?;
                iter.finish()?;

                let database = grant_target.project.as_deref().ok_or_else(|| {
                    minijinja::Error::new(
                        minijinja::ErrorKind::InvalidOperation,
                        "project in a GrantAccessToTarget cannot be empty",
                    )
                })?;
                let schema = grant_target.dataset.as_deref().ok_or_else(|| {
                    minijinja::Error::new(
                        minijinja::ErrorKind::InvalidOperation,
                        "dataset in a GrantAccessToTarget cannot be empty",
                    )
                })?;

                let role = if role_val.is_none() || role_val.is_undefined() {
                    None
                } else {
                    Some(role_val.as_str().ok_or_else(|| {
                        minijinja::Error::new(
                            minijinja::ErrorKind::InvalidOperation,
                            "role must be a string",

View on GitHub (pinned to 0267ce9170)