[Bug] Warning about require_ref_searches_node_package_before_root cannot be silenced

[glsdown]

Is this a new bug in dbt-core?

• I believe this is a new bug in dbt-core
• I have searched the existing issues, and I could not find an existing issue for this bug

Current Behavior

With updates to dbt, we are now getting a lot of warnings along these lines:

[WARNING]: The node 'fct_direct_join_to_source'in package 'dbt_project_evaluator' depends on the root project node 'seed.dbt_my_project.dbt_project_evaluator_exceptions'.This may lead to unexpected cycles downstream. Please set the 'require_ref_prefers_node_package_to_root' behavior change flag to True to avoid this issue.For more information, see the documentation at https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/global-configs/behavior-changes#require_ref_prefers_node_package_to_root

However, looking at the docs (which are not at the provided link but instead here) the behaviour that is being described is as expected - I want it to be using the dbt_project_evaluator_exceptions in my root project first, and not the one provided by dbt-project-evaluator. The same as macros and models that I have overridden from there. The deprecation itself was raised here

The issue is, I can't silence this warning as there is no warning type provided to silence and the behaviour I want is the default behaviour.

Expected Behavior

Be able to silence this warning.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Create a project with dbt-projet-evaluator as a dependency
2. Configure an exceptions file following the instructions in the docs
3. Run

dbt parse --no-partial-parse --warn-error-options '{"error": "all"}'

Relevant log output

Environment

- OS: MacOS 15.7.3 (24G419)
- Python: Python 3.11.9
- dbt: dbt Cloud CLI - 0.40.12 (2cbd136491b68628f01e64f099ab070aab4122f7 2025-12-04T21:16:01Z) (running `latest` version)
- dbt-project-evaluator: 1.1.2

Which database adapter are you using with dbt?

spark

Additional Context

I looked at the issue noted here and tried the log-output which gave:

dbt parse --no-partial-parse --warn-error-options '{"error": "all", "silence": ["DeprecatedModel", "DeprecatedReference", "UpcomingReferenceDeprecation", "UnusedResourceConfigPath", "CustomKeyInObjectDeprecation", "PropertyMovedToConfigDeprecation"]}' --log-format json

...
{"data":{"exc":"Compilation Error\n  [\u001b[33mWARNING\u001b[0m]: The node 'fct_direct_join_to_source'in package 'dbt_project_evaluator' depends on the root project node 'seed.dbt_my_project.dbt_project_evaluator_exceptions'.This may lead to unexpected cycles downstream. Please set the 'require_ref_prefers_node_package_to_root' behavior change flag to True to avoid this issue.For more information, see the documentation at https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/global-configs/behavior-changes#require_ref_prefers_node_package_to_root"},"info":{"category":"","code":"Z002","extra":{},"invocation_id":"1f338ed2-0124-4d40-b70f-22e381f61371","level":"error","msg":"Encountered an error:\nCompilation Error\n  [\u001b[33mWARNING\u001b[0m]: The node 'fct_direct_join_to_source'in package 'dbt_project_evaluator' depends on the root project node 'seed.dbt_my_project.dbt_project_evaluator_exceptions'.This may lead to unexpected cycles downstream. Please set the 'require_ref_prefers_node_package_to_root' behavior change flag to True to avoid this issue.For more information, see the documentation at https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/global-configs/behavior-changes#require_ref_prefers_node_package_to_root","name":"MainEncounteredError","pid":780,"thread":"MainThread","ts":"2026-01-05T11:38:53.369155Z"}}

I cannot see anything in here that would refer specifically to this deprecation warning.

[graciegoheen]

Definitely agree that we should:

• fix the link in the deprecation warnings
• make the warning silence-able

I want it to be using the dbt_project_evaluator_exceptions in my root project first, and not the one provided by dbt-project-evaluator

In the meantime, have you tried disabling the seed in the package - that is what the package's docs recommend.

seeds:
  dbt_project_evaluator:
    dbt_project_evaluator_exceptions:
      +enabled: false

[graciegoheen]

For "make the warning silence-able" - have you tried setting the behavior change flag require_all_warnings_handled_by_warn_error to true?

Docs here -> https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/global-configs/behavior-changes#warn-error-handler-for-all-warnings

[glsdown]

@graciegoheen Thanks! We have already disabled the seed in project evaluator, but there are other cases where we want to retain the default behaviour (i.e. leave the flag set as false). I want to be able to say "we are ok with this" and not get the warning appear.

For "make the warning silence-able" - have you tried setting the behavior change flag require_all_warnings_handled_by_warn_error to true?

I'm not 100% sure how this will help here? We make use of warn-error and warn-error-options as part of a dbt parse step in CI to keep our project clean. However, I can't see that this issue has a warning type to be able to ignore?

[cameronw-tempo]

For "make the warning silence-able" - have you tried setting the behavior change flag require_all_warnings_handled_by_warn_error to true?

Docs here -> https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/global-configs/behavior-changes#warn-error-handler-for-all-warnings

Setting this flag (require_all_warnings_handled_by_warn_error) to true, fixed the silencing for BehaviorChangeEvent warning messages in warn_error_options for us. Looks like its false by default, but the docs don't specify that it's required. :(