[Feature] Represent Generic Test .yml within test-paths in manifest.json

[epapineau]

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

I define a custom generic test in tests/generic/missing_timestamps.sql directory:

{% test missing_timestamps(model, column_name) %}
...
{% endtest %}

I document the test in tests/generic/properties.yml with:

macros: 
  - name: test_missing_timestamps
    description: Fail when timestamps are missing

I expect this documentation to work based on comments here and documentation requests here.

However, when I look at the manifest.json entry for the test_missing_timestamps macro the patch_path field is empty:

{'name': 'test_missing_timestamps',
 'resource_type': 'macro',
 'package_name': 'data_warehouse',
 'path': 'tests/generic/missing_timestamps.sql',
 'original_file_path': 'tests/generic/missing_timestamps.sql',
 'unique_id': 'macro.data_warehouse.test_missing_timestamps',
 'macro_sql': <omitted>,
 'depends_on': {'macros': []},
 'description': '',
 'meta': {},
 'docs': {'show': True, 'node_color': None},
 'patch_path': None,
 'arguments': [],
 'created_at': 1727980919.6159098,
 'supported_languages': None}

When I look at the manifest.json for the applied generic test , the patch_path is also empty.

Expected Behavior

I expect the information defined in the properties.yml to be populated for the macro as it is with non-generic-test macros.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Create a custom generic test and an associated properties.yml to document it
2. Apply the custom generic test to a model
3. dbt parse
4. Inspect dbt manifest macros for macro.project_name.test_name and manifest nodes for test.project_name.test_name_confgs

Relevant log output

No response

Environment

- OS: macOS 14.6.1
- Python: 3.11.1
- dbt: 1.8.6

Which database adapter are you using with dbt?

bigquery

Additional Context

No response

[dbeatty10]

Thanks for reaching out about this @epapineau !

Does it work for you if you move the content of your properties.yml file into the macros folder?

It generated the desired documentation for me via dbt docs generate and dbt docs serve when I put it in the macros directory, but not when I put it in the tests/generic directory. I've updated dbt-labs/docs.getdbt.com#5631 accordingly.

In the meantime, I'm going to convert this to a feature request to enable this for the tests/generic directory.