What is a dbt package?

A dbt package is best defined as a reusable collection of dbt models and tests. This concept is fundamental to dbt's functionality, allowing analysts and engineers to encapsulate logic, best practices, and transformations into a single, shareable unit. Packages enable teams to manage complexity and facilitate collaboration by allowing code to be reused across different projects or teams.

By using packages, analytics engineers can leverage pre-written logic that adheres to established standards without needing to recreate similar models or tests from scratch. This promotes efficiency and consistency within data transformation processes. A well-designed package may also include documentation and examples, further aiding users in implementation.

The other options focus on concepts that are not encapsulated in a dbt package. For instance, while macros play an important role by providing reusable snippets of SQL, they do not represent the broader context of models and tests that a package encompasses. Meanwhile, automated data cleaning might be part of a data workflow but is not specifically tied to what constitutes a dbt package. Similarly, configuration files for data sources are critical for dbt but do not reflect the reusable nature of a collection of models and tests that define a dbt package.