# inherit column level documentation

**URL:** <https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/inherit-column-level-documentation/14246>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [July 13, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/inherit-column-level-documentation/14246 "2024-07-13T16:09:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![madison.devin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@madison.devin](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/madison.devin)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/inherit-column-level-documentation/14246/1 "2024-07-13T16:09:36Z")

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## The problem I’m having

The dbt project has many models that draw columns from a ref() model without any column renaming or transformations. Rather than retyping doc blocks `'{{ doc("my_column") }}'`(or hardcoded text) in description for every column in downstream models, I would like columns to inherit the description (and only the description) from upstream models.

## The context of why I’m trying to do this

We use dbt core (not dbt cloud).

Ideally, the furthest upstream model description would draw on a docs blocks file, and then all downstream models would inherit this.

## What I’ve already tried

- A post indicated that [dbt-osmosis](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/how-to-get-upstream-documentation-to-flow-downstream-without-manually-updating/7426) can be used for this. After reading the docs, it’s not clear to me how to implement dbt-osmosis to just propagate column documentation (without additional functionality).

Thank you!