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SQLMesh for dummies.

Too afraid to ask?

Daniel Beach's avatar
Daniel Beach
Aug 18, 2025
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“SQLMesh is a next-generation data transformation framework designed to ship data quickly, efficiently, and without error. Data teams can efficiently run and deploy data transformations written in SQL or Python with visibility and control at any size.

It is more than just a dbt alternative.” - SQLMesh

I ain’t going to lie to you. When I first decided that I should probably get around to checking out SQLMesh, if for no other reason than keeping up with the Joneses, when I read “It is more than a dbt alternative,” I laughed out loud.

To be honest, something like this tells me all that I need to know. Most people are probably using SQLMesh as a dbt alternative. Especially with the dbt-core vs dbtLabs huffaluff I’ve heard about.

Apparently r/dataengineering thinks dbt-core was murdered. Strong words.

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