dbt-Trino snapshots: drop the location property, it breaks reruns

TL;DR

If a dbt-Trino snapshot fails on the second run with a temp-table creation error on Iceberg/S3, remove the location property from the snapshot config: the adapter does not support it and 1.7.1+ fails fast on the combination.

Steps

1. If a dbt-Trino snapshot fails on the second run with a temp-table creation error on Iceberg/S3, remove the location property from the snapshot config: the adapter does not support it and 1.7.1+ fails fast on the combination. Instead, create the snapshot schema with its own location and point the snapshot at it with targetschema, which keeps dbttmp in a subdirectory away from the final table. Do not pass location through model configs to work around catalog location defaults.

Expected: The maintainer confirmed there is no supported way to set a location property on snapshot models in dbt-trino: since version 1.7.1 the adapter raises an explicit error for that combination instead of failing mysteriously.

When to use

You are seeing this: The working pattern is to drop location from the snapshot config and put the snapshot in a schema whose location is managed separately, so the temp table lands in a subdirectory of the schema location. Use this skill when you run into "dbt-Trino snapshots: drop the location property, it breaks reruns".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

Versions mentioned in the source: 1.7.1. If you are on something much newer or older, the details may have shifted.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.