How we structure our dbt projects

Structure models in the models directory across three primary layers that build on each other: Staging, Intermediate, and Marts. Staging creates atoms, the initial modular building blocks, from source data. Intermediate stacks layers of logic with clear, specific purposes to prepare staging models to join into the entities you want. Marts bring the modular pieces together into a wide, rich vision of the entities your organization cares about. In the example project, seeds in seeds/jaffle-data/ can populate the raw schema for local development when load_source_data is enabled, and YAML files sit alongside SQL models in the marts and staging folders. The project also uses data-tests, macros, and analyses folders plus packages.yml. Scope: dbt. Reviewed October 4, 2026.