fix: emit CREATE VIEW when model type is view in SQL export (#1031)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Fixed
 - Fix SQL export generating multiple PRIMARY KEY constraints for composite keys (#1026)
 - Preserve parametrized physicalTypes for SQL export (#1086)
+- Emit `CREATE VIEW` DDL when model `type` is `view` in SQL export (#1031)
 - Fix incorrect SQL type mappings: SQL Server `double`/`jsonb`, MySQL bare `varchar`, missing Trino types (#1110)
 
 ## [0.11.7] - 2026-03-24

datacontract/export/sql_exporter.py

@@ -104,7 +104,13 @@ def to_sql_ddl(data_contract: OpenDataContractStandard, server_type: str = "snow
 
 
 def _to_sql_table(model_name: str, model: SchemaObject, server_type: str = "snowflake") -> str:
-    if server_type == "databricks":
+    is_view = model.physicalType is not None and model.physicalType.lower() == "view"
+    if is_view:
+        if server_type == "databricks":
+            result = f"CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW {model_name} (\n"
+        else:
+            result = f"CREATE VIEW {model_name} (\n"
+    elif server_type == "databricks":
         # Databricks recommends to use the CREATE OR REPLACE statement for unity managed tables
         # https://docs.databricks.com/en/sql/language-manual/sql-ref-syntax-ddl-create-table-using.html
         result = f"CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE {model_name} (\n"

datacontract/output/ci_output.py

@@ -93,7 +93,9 @@ def _write_github_step_summary(results: List[Tuple[str, Run]], summary_path: str
 
     # Per-contract detail sections
     for data_contract_file, run in results:
-        result_display = RESULT_EMOJI.get(run.result, run.result.value if hasattr(run.result, "value") else str(run.result))
+        result_display = RESULT_EMOJI.get(
+            run.result, run.result.value if hasattr(run.result, "value") else str(run.result)
+        )
 
         n_total = len(run.checks) if run.checks else 0
         n_passed = sum(1 for c in run.checks if c.result == "passed") if run.checks else 0

tests/fixtures/sql-view-export/datacontract.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+dataContractSpecification: 1.2.1
+id: sql-view-export
+info:
+  title: SQL View Export
+  version: 0.0.1
+  owner: my-domain-team
+servers:
+  production:
+    type: postgres
+    host: localhost
+    port: 4567
+    database: test
+    schema: public
+models:
+  my_view:
+    type: view
+    description: A sample view definition
+    fields:
+      col_a:
+        type: varchar
+        description: First column
+        required: true
+      col_b:
+        type: integer
+        description: Second column

tests/test_export_sql.py

@@ -144,3 +144,19 @@ def test_to_sql_ddl_databricks_unity_catalog_staging():
 ) COMMENT "A single article that is part of an order.";
 """.strip()
     assert actual == expected
+
+
+def test_to_sql_ddl_postgres_view():
+    """Model with type=view should emit CREATE VIEW, not CREATE TABLE."""
+    actual = DataContract(data_contract_file="fixtures/sql-view-export/datacontract.yaml").export("sql")
+    expected = """
+-- Data Contract: sql-view-export
+-- SQL Dialect: postgres
+CREATE VIEW my_view (
+  col_a text not null,
+  col_b integer
+);
+""".strip()
+    assert actual == expected
+    assert "CREATE VIEW" in actual
+    assert "CREATE TABLE" not in actual