dbt "Done. ... N failures" build fails CI in CI

dbt build ran models, tests, seeds, and snapshots together and at least one node errored or a test failed. dbt prints a summary line with the counts and exits 1, which fails the CI job.

What this error means

dbt build ends with "Done. PASS=... WARN=... ERROR=... SKIP=... TOTAL=..." where ERROR or FAIL is non-zero, and the process exits with code 1.

dbt

Done. PASS=41 WARN=0 ERROR=2 SKIP=3 TOTAL=46
Completed with 2 errors and 0 warnings:
  Database Error in model orders ...
  Failure in test unique_customers_id ...

Common causes

A model or test in the selection failed

Any errored model or failed test makes dbt exit 1, and dependent nodes are skipped, inflating the SKIP count.

A failure early in the graph skipped many downstreams

One upstream error cascades: dbt skips everything that depends on it, so the summary shows both ERROR and SKIP counts.

How to fix it

Read the per-node summary and fix the first error

Scroll to the "Completed with N errors" block listing each failure.
Fix the earliest upstream error first, since it skips downstreams.
Re-run the failed nodes with dbt build --select result:error+.

Terminal

dbt build --select result:error+ --state ./target

Separate blocking from advisory tests

Set advisory checks to warn so only genuine errors fail the build, then fix the real errors.

How to prevent it

Run dbt build in CI so models and tests gate every change.
Fix the earliest upstream failure first to clear cascaded skips.
Use test severity to distinguish blocking errors from warnings.