What causes DbtManifestVersionIncompatible?

A CI/CD pipeline artifact (manifest.json) was generated by dbt 1.6 and is being consumed by dbt 1.8 state comparison. The dbt Core version in production differs from the version used in local development. A dbt Cloud job was upgraded to a newer dbt version but the manifest artifact was not regenerated. A custom script parses manifest.json and was built against an older schema version

How do I fix DbtManifestVersionIncompatible?

Step 1: Check the dbt version that generated the manifest: cat manifest.json | python3 -c "import json,sys; m=json.load(sys.stdin); print(m['metadata']['dbt_version'])". Step 2: Regenerate the manifest using the correct dbt version: dbt compile --target prod.. Step 3: Align dbt versions across all environments (local, CI, production) by pinning in requirements.txt or dbt Cloud job settings.. Step 4: If using --state flag for defer or slim CI, ensure the artifact and the running dbt version are compatible.. Step 5: Update any custom manifest parsers to handle the current schema version.

Medium severityconfiguration

Power BI Refresh Error:
DbtManifestVersionIncompatible

What does this error mean?

The dbt manifest.json file was generated by a different version of dbt than the one currently being used to parse or consume it, causing version incompatibility errors.

Common causes

1A CI/CD pipeline artifact (manifest.json) was generated by dbt 1.6 and is being consumed by dbt 1.8 state comparison
2The dbt Core version in production differs from the version used in local development
3A dbt Cloud job was upgraded to a newer dbt version but the manifest artifact was not regenerated
4A custom script parses manifest.json and was built against an older schema version

How to fix it

1Step 1: Check the dbt version that generated the manifest: cat manifest.json | python3 -c "import json,sys; m=json.load(sys.stdin); print(m['metadata']['dbt_version'])"
2Step 2: Regenerate the manifest using the correct dbt version: dbt compile --target prod.
3Step 3: Align dbt versions across all environments (local, CI, production) by pinning in requirements.txt or dbt Cloud job settings.
4Step 4: If using --state flag for defer or slim CI, ensure the artifact and the running dbt version are compatible.
5Step 5: Update any custom manifest parsers to handle the current schema version.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check the dbt version used to generate a manifest?

Read the metadata.dbt_version field in manifest.json: cat manifest.json | jq .metadata.dbt_version

Is the dbt manifest schema forward-compatible?

Not fully — dbt aims for backward compatibility within a minor version but breaking schema changes can occur across minor versions (e.g., 1.5 to 1.6). Pin your dbt version to avoid unexpected changes.