Configuration

hodor has two kinds of configuration: node configs under state:, and settings on the profiles.yml target.

Node configs

hodor reads the same state: block as dbt State, so a project can switch between the two. Set it in YAML (dbt_project.yml or a model properties file). hodor merges state: key by key across project, folder and model levels.

# dbt_project.yml
models:
  my_project:
    +state:
      lag_tolerance: 4h
      require_fresh_data_from: any
snapshots:
  my_project:
    +state:
      lag_tolerance: 0s

Key	Default	Values
lag_tolerance	45m	0s, 45m, 4h, 1d, 1w, integer seconds, or {count: 4, period: hour}
require_fresh_data_from	any	any: build when any upstream has new data. all: build only when all of them have.
compare_unrendered_code	false	true: build only when both the rendered and the unrendered code changed
execute_hooks_on_any_reuse	false	true: run pre- and post-hooks on a reused node. execute_hooks_on_reuse is also accepted. All hooks are rendered before the first one runs, so a hook cannot query what an earlier hook wrote.
evaluate_volatile_sql	auto	Auto: volatile functions such as current_date(), current_user() and current_timestamp() count as an upstream that changes, unless they only fill a stamp column. true: stamp columns count too. false: they never count (the dbt State default).

pre_clone, allow_clones and defer_to_target are accepted and ignored, with a warning. Unknown keys are ignored with a warning. An invalid value warns and keeps the default.

Duration units: s, m, h, d, w and their long forms (second, minutes, hours, day, weeks).

Settings

Set them as keys on the active profiles.yml target. An environment variable overrides the profile key. hodor reads the keys from profiles.yml itself and renders them the way dbt renders the profile, so {{ env_var('...') }} works.

Profile key	Env var	Default	Values
hodor_mode	HODOR_MODE	shadow	off, shadow, on
hodor_store	HODOR_STORE	delta	delta, duckdb, postgres (alias lakebase)
hodor_database	HODOR_DATABASE	the target's catalog (or database), for delta only	Databricks catalog, or Postgres database. Required for postgres: a Postgres database is unrelated to the dbt target, so it has no default. Not used by duckdb
hodor_schema	HODOR_SCHEMA	none for delta and postgres (required); main for duckdb	schema name
hodor_table	HODOR_TABLE	hodor_state	table name
hodor_path	HODOR_PATH	.hodor/state.duckdb	DuckDB database file, for duckdb. A relative path is relative to the dbt project root.
hodor_metadata_threads	HODOR_METADATA_THREADS	8	1-64
hodor_lookback_days	HODOR_LOOKBACK_DAYS	90	1-3650. A node not built within this window builds once (no_history).

These apply to the postgres store only. Set either hodor_endpoint (Lakebase) or hodor_host.

Profile key	Env var	Default	Values
hodor_endpoint	HODOR_ENDPOINT	none	A Lakebase endpoint path, projects/<p>/branches/<b>/endpoints/<e>. It supplies the host, the user and an OAuth token, so hodor_host, hodor_user and hodor_password are not needed
hodor_host	HODOR_HOST	none	Postgres host name, for any Postgres that is not Lakebase
hodor_port	HODOR_PORT	5432	1-65535
hodor_user	HODOR_USER	none	Postgres role to connect as
hodor_password	HODOR_PASSWORD	none	Keep it in an environment variable, not in profiles.yml
hodor_sslmode	HODOR_SSLMODE	require	Any psycopg sslmode. Use disable only for a local container

With neither hodor_endpoint nor hodor_host, the postgres store warns and hodor turns off for the run.

Name parts (hodor_database, hodor_schema, hodor_table) may contain letters, digits, _ and -, and must not start with -. hodor always quotes them. An invalid value warns and falls back to the default.

An empty environment variable is ignored, so the profile key applies.

Per run: --vars

dbt-core 1.12 accepts no new command-line flags from a plugin: it reads the flags before any plugin loads, so dbt build --no-hodor fails with No such option. Use dbt's own --vars instead. Any hodor_<name> key in --vars overrides the profile key for that run:

dbt build --vars '{hodor_mode: off}'
dbt build --vars '{hodor_mode: on, hodor_lookback_days: 30}'

Precedence, highest first: HODOR_<NAME> environment variable, --vars, profile key, default. The environment variable stays the job-level switch: HODOR_MODE=off turns hodor off whatever --vars says.

YAML reads unquoted on and off as booleans. hodor accepts both forms for hodor_mode.

dbt State's own switches, --manage-state and DBT_ENGINE_MANAGE_STATE, do not apply. dbt-core 1.12 has neither: the flag fails, and the variable triggers dbt's environment-variable-namespace-deprecation warning. On dbt 1.13 and later they turn on dbt Labs' own dbt State.

delta has no default schema

With the delta store, hodor needs hodor_schema, and a database from hodor_database or the target's catalog. Without them, hodor turns itself off for the run with a warning. It writes nothing to a catalog until someone names the schema.

Example profile

# profiles.yml
my_project:
  target: prod
  outputs:
    prod:
      type: databricks
      catalog: my_catalog
      # ... connection settings ...
      hodor_mode: shadow
      hodor_schema: ops
      # state table: my_catalog.ops.hodor_state
    local:
      type: duckdb
      path: dev.duckdb
      hodor_store: duckdb
      # state table: main.hodor_state in .hodor/state.duckdb