The alpha brings one long-requested capability: dbt can now resolve `function()` calls from the state manifest, so deferral works correctly when models depend on user-defined functions rather than silently pulling the wrong version. That single change removes one of the bigger footguns in large multi-environment dbt setups. V2.0 is alpha, not GA — production pipelines should stay on 1.x until the release stabilises. But the alpha window is exactly the right moment to test UDF-heavy models and file issues while the interface is still in flux.