# How to Perform Insert only in DBT

**URL:** <https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-perform-insert-only-in-dbt/15050>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** bigquery, dbt-core\
**Created:** [August 21, 2024, 1:15pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-perform-insert-only-in-dbt/15050 "2024-08-21T13:15:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kum](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.getdbt.com/kum/32/4420_2.png) [@kum](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/kum)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 1:15pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-perform-insert-only-in-dbt/15050/1 "2024-08-21T13:15:56Z")

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Hi,

I have a dbt table, and I want to do the Insertion of rows using dbt, what’s the best way to perform insert only in the table instead of recreating the whole table.

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**Author:** ![a\_slack\_user](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.getdbt.com/a_slack_user/32/1629_2.png) [@a\_slack\_user](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/a_slack_user)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-perform-insert-only-in-dbt/15050/2 "2024-08-21T13:25:02Z")

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An incremental model. The dbt-bigquery adapter doesn’t have an append materialisation but you can use merge if you use a merge key that can’t ever match

Note: `@Mike Stanley` originally [posted this reply in Slack](https://getdbt.slack.com/archives/CBSQTAPLG/p1724246690385849?thread_ts=1724246182.220789&cid=CBSQTAPLG). It might not have transferred perfectly.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kum](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.getdbt.com/kum/32/4420_2.png) [@kum](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/kum)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-perform-insert-only-in-dbt/15050/3 "2024-08-21T13:26:25Z")

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can you explain in detail, like how to do?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![a\_slack\_user](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.getdbt.com/a_slack_user/32/1629_2.png) [@a\_slack\_user](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/a_slack_user)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-perform-insert-only-in-dbt/15050/4 "2024-08-21T13:26:28Z")

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you could also make your own append strategy

Note: `@Mike Stanley` originally [posted this reply in Slack](https://getdbt.slack.com/archives/CBSQTAPLG/p1724246781552459?thread_ts=1724246182.220789&cid=CBSQTAPLG). It might not have transferred perfectly.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kum](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.getdbt.com/kum/32/4420_2.png) [@kum](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/kum)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 1:29pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-perform-insert-only-in-dbt/15050/5 "2024-08-21T13:29:12Z")

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I’m pretty new to dbt, is there a doc which I can refer

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pig](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.getdbt.com/pig/32/2038_2.png) [@pig](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/pig)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-perform-insert-only-in-dbt/15050/6 "2024-08-21T18:03:29Z")

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For append only don’t use unique\_key

```auto
{{
  config(
    materialized = 'incremental'
  )
}}

```

[https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/build/incremental-strategy](https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/build/incremental-strategy)