manifest.json is the full parsed map of a dbt project's resources

After parse-capable commands, manifest.json appears in the project's target directory—or can be downloaded from job artifacts on the dbt platform. It includes analyses, models, seeds, snapshots, tests, sources, metrics, exposures, groups, macros, and docs blocks, with compiled SQL mainly for executed nodes.

Data teams rely on it to power documentation, compare state across runs, and audit missing descriptions or tests. Version tables in the extract map dbt releases to manifest schema versions, which matters when tooling reads the file across upgrades.

As a machine-readable inventory of nodes, edges, and properties, the manifest is a practical substrate for shared meaning: schemas, tests, groups, and exposures in one artifact other systems can consume.