Materialization

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This term would benefit from additional depth and examples. Have knowledge to contribute? Create a discussion in the docs.getdbt.com GitHub repository to begin the process of becoming a glossary contributor!

The exact Data Definition Language (DDL) that dbt will use when creating the model’s equivalent in a data warehouse. It's the manner in which the data is represented, and each of those options is defined either canonically (tables, views, incremental), or bespoke.

It is important to consider the downstream impacts of your materialization choice on query run times and macro capabilities.