This module covers the dbt concepts that differ from raw SQL — refs, the DAG, CTEs, materializations, Jinja, macros, and packages. Each lesson includes hands-on practice against the Doe family seed data you load in lesson 2.1.

Prerequisite: Module 1 — Setting Up dbt — you need a working dbt project on BigQuery.

Why seeds come first

You don't have ingested Gmail / Calendar / Notion data yet (that's a Module 3 prereq). Seeds are the shortcut — a CSV in your project that dbt loads into the warehouse. With the family_members seed in place, every concept in this module gets a real, hands-on practicum instead of hypothetical SQL.

What you'll learn

• How to load CSV reference data into the warehouse via dbt seed
• The dbt mental model: models, ref() and source(), the DAG, and lineage
• How to structure dbt models with CTEs — the import → logic → final pattern almost every nexus model uses
• Materializations — view, table, incremental, ephemeral
• Jinja and programmatic SQL — how dbt makes SQL programmable
• Macros and packages — reusable Jinja and how to install third-party packages like dbt_utils and dbt-nexus
• The standard dbt project layout
• How to build a real model end-to-end against a public BigQuery dataset

Lessons

1. Seeding the Doe family data — load family_members.csv so the rest of the module has data to query
2. Creating models, refs, and lineage — the dbt mental model and the DAG
3. CTEs — the building blocks of dbt models — the import → logic → final pattern
4. Materializations — view, table, incremental, ephemeral
5. Jinja and programmatic SQL — control flow, loops, compile-time SQL generation
6. Macros and packages — reusable Jinja and the package ecosystem
7. The Doe family project structure — directories, dbt_project.yml, layered model conventions
8. Examples and practicum — three worked examples plus a consolidated end-to-end practicum

When you're done

You'll be comfortable with every dbt feature you need to read and write nexus models, and you'll have a project structured the way nexus expects. On to Module 3 — Setting Up dbt-nexus.

Start with 2.1 Seeding the Doe family data.