dbt state:modified "No such file ... manifest.json" in CI

A --select state:modified run needs a prior manifest.json to diff against, and dbt could not find one at the path given to --state. Slim CI compares the current project to a stored production manifest.

What this error means

dbt with state:modified fails with "No such file or directory" for manifest.json, or "Could not find the artifacts at the specified state path".

dbt

Runtime Error
  Could not find manifest.json at path './prod-artifacts'.
  No such file or directory: './prod-artifacts/manifest.json'

Common causes

The state artifacts were never downloaded

The --state path has no manifest.json because the production artifacts were not fetched into the job.

The wrong --state path

The path passed to --state does not point at the folder that holds the prior manifest.json.

How to fix it

Download the production manifest before running

Fetch the latest production target/ artifacts into a known folder.
Pass that folder to --state so state:modified has a baseline.
Re-run the slim CI selection.

Terminal

dbt build --select state:modified+ --state ./prod-artifacts --defer

Store and restore artifacts across runs

Upload target/ after a production run and restore it in CI so the manifest is available.

.github/workflows/ci.yml

- uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: dbt-prod-artifacts
    path: ./prod-artifacts

How to prevent it

Persist production target/manifest.json and restore it for slim CI.
Point --state at the folder that actually holds the prior manifest.
Fall back to a full build when no baseline manifest exists.