# How to call a model from a macro
**URL:** https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-call-a-model-from-a-macro/9140
**Category:** Help
**Tags:** macro
**Created:** [July 14, 2023, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-call-a-model-from-a-macro/9140 "2023-07-14T07:46:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@janbenisek](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/janbenisek)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2023, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-call-a-model-from-a-macro/9140/1 "2023-07-14T07:46:06Z")
## The problem I’m having
I’d like to execute a particular model in a macro. Something along this way:
```auto
{%- macro foobar(model_name, target_name) -%}
dbt run -s {{ model_name }} -t {{ target_name }}
{%- endmacro -%}
```
## The context of why I’m trying to do this
We want to help others running models safely in a dev schema. However, some models have many large upstream dependencies. Therefore, I am writing a macro which, given a model name I want to refresh, copies all production tables and views, basically all upstream models, into a dev schema.
I am able to get all the upstream models. Copying `tables` is also straightforward (`create table dev_john.big_table as select * from prod_schema.big_table`), however there is no such thing for a `view`.
Therefore, I am looking for a way to run models which are views from macro.
(I know about `--defer` and we use it, but we do not want to use it in this case as it sometimes leads to annoying transaction blocks and problems)
## What I’ve already tried
The only thing I came up is to just `create view dev_john.my_view as select * from prod_schema.my_view with no schema binding`. But I’d rather to do `dbt run -s my_view -t dev_john` to really have no dependencies between prod and dev.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
---
### Author:  [@a\_slack\_user](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/a_slack_user)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2023, 12:13pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-call-a-model-from-a-macro/9140/2 "2023-07-14T12:13:42Z")
Not a direct answer, but would the “upstream-prod” package help you? [https://hub.getdbt.com/lewisdavies/upstream\_prod/latest/](https://hub.getdbt.com/lewisdavies/upstream_prod/latest/)
Note: `@Owen` originally [posted this reply in Slack](https://getdbt.slack.com/archives/CBSQTAPLG/p1689336814771439?thread_ts=1689320791.817739&cid=CBSQTAPLG). It might not have transferred perfectly.
---
### Author:  [@janbenisek](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/janbenisek)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2023, 12:35pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-call-a-model-from-a-macro/9140/3 "2023-07-14T12:35:07Z")
Thanks! I saw that one. From what I understand, this is basically `--defer` without the artefacts.
It is close, but it reads production tables, while I need complete isolation. That is, having the prod tables in dev.
---
### Author:  [@naik.manjunath90](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/naik.manjunath90)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2024, 6:23am UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-call-a-model-from-a-macro/9140/4 "2024-01-18T06:23:44Z")
Any update on above requirement?i would like to run dbt model using macro
---
### Author:  [@janbenisek](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/janbenisek)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2024, 8:43am UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-call-a-model-from-a-macro/9140/5 "2024-01-18T08:43:09Z")
For myself, I simply get all the model info from dbt artifacts and then iterate over them like that:
```auto
{%- for upstream_model, configs in model_properties.items() -%}
{{ dbt_utils.log_info("drop table if exists " ~ dev_schema ~ "." ~ configs['alias'] ~ " cascade;" ) }}
{% do run_query("drop table if exists " ~ dev_schema ~ "." ~ configs['alias'] ~ " cascade;" ) %}
{{ dbt_utils.log_info("begin; create table " ~ dev_schema ~ "." ~ configs['alias'] ~ " as select * from " ~ configs['schema'] ~ "." ~ configs['alias'] ~ " " ~ limit ~ "; commit;") }}
{% do run_query("begin; create table " ~ dev_schema ~ "." ~ configs['alias'] ~ " as select * from " ~ configs['schema'] ~ "." ~ configs['alias'] ~ " " ~ limit ~ "; commit;") %}
```
Not perfect, but it works.
For my use-case, there is also now `dbt clone` which could be useful.
However, haven’t found any way to run a model by `dbt run -s foo -t prod` in a macro.