[Feature] Model Version Support

[kokorin]

Describe the feature

When refactoring a model we use versioned model. It would be nice to see different model versions on Recce's graph and to compare model versions in the same environment.

Describe alternatives you've considered

It's possible to compare v2 model in dev environment with v1 in UAT/PROD, but for that we should update latest_version property every time. It's not convenient and it's easy to forget to revert such changes.

Who will this benefit?

No response

Are you interested in contributing this feature?

No response

Anything else?

No response

[even-wei]

Hi @kokorin 👋🏼

Thanks for submitting this feature request.
Showing the model version is a great idea!

I want to clarify the comparison between different versions.
Currently, Recce supports ref(model_x, v=2) in query diff.
For example:

Is this helpful?

[kokorin]

I want to clarify the comparison between different versions.
Currently, Recce supports ref(model_x, v=2) in query diff.

@even-wei thank you, it helps to some extent. I think we can add similar tests as we have in linage.

[ijac13]

Hi, @kokorin Recce works mostly on comparing two environments. We have some exploration on "same environment" and would love to understand your use case. I'll follow up via email. Thanks

[kokorin]

@ijac13 our use-case is quite simple: we have a set of UDFs, views, etc in transactional DB which are used for reporting. We are migrating reporting to a warehouse.

For that we:

1. ingested needed tables and views (as tables) into the WH
2. added dbt models which read from ingested view and set version 1 for such models
3. now we are refactoring reporting logic (UDF and views) as dbt models of version 2
4. then we want to compare that refactored views (models v2) produce same data as ingested views (models v1)

[kokorin]

Update: I found that we can use Recce to compare V1 and V2 models in the same environment using preset checks (as suggested by @even-wei ) using dbt-audit-helper (required dbt package to run Recce anyway).

It doesn't provide fancy-looking tables (as Recce does) but it helps a lot.

Here is simple example, but there are much more useful macros:

checks:
  - name: MyModel row count
    type: query
    params:
      sql_template: |
        {{ audit_helper.compare_row_counts(
            a_relation = ref("my_model", v="1"),
            b_relation = ref("my_model", v="2")
        ) }}
    view_options: {}

[even-wei]

Hi @kokorin

That’s great! thanks for sharing the migration use case and the detailed steps. It’s interesting you use Recce in this way.

Today Recce focuses on cross‑environment comparisons, so “same environment” version diff isn’t a near‑term priority.
We’re tracking this for the roadmap since migration is an important use case.