I just wanted to put this note here for anyone that utilizes this technique:
If you are attempting to run SlimCI, as of writing, the generate_database_name and generate_schema_name within the snapshot configuration will mark these files as state: modified.
Environment awareness logic for snapshots (and perhaps other models, though I’ve not tested that) must live within dbt_project.yml in order to not trigger files as modified when comparing across targets (i.e. target == prod and target == ci)
While I did utilize the snapshots macro listed here to have dev point to prod snapshots, this did not solve the issue I was hoping to solve (slimCI running all snapshots in their own temporary schema, which then runs ever child model if using state:modified+)
The magic sauce is explained here: Caveats to state comparison | dbt Docs