sqlmesh format corrupts MODEL meta expressions (ignored_rules + DATE_TRUNC for BigQuery)

[cuong0993]

Version: sqlmesh >= 0.236.0
Command: sqlmesh format
Config: connection.type: bigquery

Reproduction

After format, these files are incorrectly rewritten:

-  ignored_rules ['nomissingaudits'],
+  ignored_rules ARRAY('nomissingaudits'),

-  partitioned_by DATE_TRUNC(date, MONTH),
+  partitioned_by DATE_TRUNC('MONTH', date),

The DATE_TRUNC swap causes parsing failure:

Error: Failed to load model from file '.../....sql':
  Field 'DATE_TRUNC('DATE', 'MONTH')' does not contain a column

Root cause (stack / source)

File: .venv/lib/python3.14/site-packages/sqlmesh/core/dialect.py
Function: format_model_expressions() (line ~823)

return ";\n\n".join(
    expression.sql(
        pretty=True,
        dialect=None if is_meta_expression(expression) else dialect,   # <-- BUG
        normalize_functions=normalize_functions,
        **kwargs,
    )
    ...
)

Meta expressions (MODEL (...)) are rendered with dialect=None regardless of gateway/dialect. When SQLGlot generates DATE_TRUNC with no dialect, it produces DATE_TRUNC('MONTH', date) (generic syntax). Similarly array literals become ARRAY(...).

Call path (from context.py):
context.format() → _format() (line 1372) → format_model_expressions(expressions, transpile or target.dialect, ...) → expression.sql(dialect=None if is_meta_expression(..) else dialect)

Expected

sqlmesh format should preserve BigQuery meta-expression syntax:

• ignored_rules ['nomissingaudits']
• partitioned_by DATE_TRUNC(date, MONTH)

Actual

Meta expressions rewritten to generic SQLGlot default syntax, breaking BigQuery model loads.