agent docs edit regenerated catalog.json: wiped custom descriptions

TL;DR

Descriptions belong in schema.yml, not in catalog.json, which is generated output. Restore catalog.json from git (or just regenerate it), and move every custom description into schema.yml or model config descriptions so the next generate cannot wipe them.

Error

agent docs edit regenerated catalog.json: wiped custom descriptions

Steps

1. Check git for catalog.json: if it was committed, restore it with git checkout. If it was gitignored, just plan to regenerate. Expected: You know whether there is anything worth restoring.

2. Recover the lost descriptions: check git history, the dbt Cloud docs UI, or ask the authors. List every custom description that vanished. Expected: A list of descriptions to re-enter, with their owners.

3. Write each description into schema.yml (models, columns) or the model's config description. This is the durable home. Expected: All descriptions live in version-controlled YAML, not in generated JSON.

4. Run dbt docs generate and confirm the descriptions render in the docs site. Expected: Docs site shows the descriptions; regenerating no longer wipes them.

When to use

• an agent's docs edit wiped custom descriptions from catalog.json
• descriptions vanished after a docs regenerate
• descriptions were edited directly in generated files

When not to use

• descriptions were never written (then write them in schema.yml fresh)
• the docs site fails to build at all (that is a generate problem)
• you want to version catalog.json (do not; it is build output)

Tool compatibility

• schema.yml descriptions for models and columns
• git history to recover wiped text
• dbt docs generate to rebuild the site from source

Variant phrasings

agent edited manifest.json descriptions

Same lesson: manifest.json is also generated. Descriptions live in schema.yml, period.

agent keeps editing generated files

Add generated-file paths to the agent's instructions as read-only, and gitignore them so edits cannot even be committed.

Why it happens

catalog.json and manifest.json are build artifacts dbt regenerates from source. Editing them is writing on water; the next generate overwrites everything. The agent did not know the difference between source and output, which is a teachable instruction, not a mystery.

Edge cases

• If catalog.json must be committed for some deployment, automate its regeneration in CI so humans and agents never hand-edit it.
• Descriptions in schema.yml support markdown; use it for links to confluence or runbooks.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_oOLWYZIKlloeMb6SH1m8Qw

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_oOLWYZIKlloeMb6SH1m8Qw

Thread query: agent docs edit regenerated catalog.json: wiped custom descriptions

TL;DR: Descriptions belong in schema.yml, not in catalog.json, which is generated output. Restore catalog.json from git (or just regenerate it), and move every custom description into schema.yml or model config descriptions so the next generate cannot wipe them.