MCP environment variables reference
This page is a condensed reference for all environment variables used by the local dbt MCP server. For full detail on each variable (including examples and multi-cell configuration), see Set up local MCP.
These variables are required to use dbt CLI commands through MCP.
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|
DBT_PROJECT_DIR | Required | Full path to your dbt project folder (the folder containing dbt_project.yml). |
DBT_PATH | Required | Full path to your dbt executable. Find it by running which dbt (macOS/Linux) or where dbt (Windows). |
DBT_PROFILES_DIR | Optional | Path to a custom profiles.yml directory. Defaults to ~/.dbt/. |
DBT_CLI_TIMEOUT | Optional | Seconds before dbt CLI commands time out. Defaults to 60. Compile runs the whole project, so large projects may need a higher limit to avoid timeouts. |
These variables are required for dbt platform features (Semantic Layer, Discovery API, Admin API, SQL execution).
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|
DBT_HOST | Required | Your dbt platform hostname. Accepts both cloud.getdbt.com and https://cloud.getdbt.com. Default: cloud.getdbt.com.
For multi-cell accounts, use the base hostname (for example, us1.dbt.com) and set MULTICELL_ACCOUNT_PREFIX separately (for example, abc123). |
MULTICELL_ACCOUNT_PREFIX | Required for multi-cell | Your account prefix (for example, abc123 from abc123.us1.dbt.com). Do not include this in DBT_HOST. |
DBT_TOKEN | Required | A service token or Personal Access Token (PAT).
The execute_sql tool requires a PAT — service tokens do not work for that tool. |
DBT_PROD_ENV_ID | Required | Your production environment ID (numeric integer). |
DBT_DEV_ENV_ID | Required for execute_sql | Your development environment ID (numeric integer). |
DBT_USER_ID | Required for execute_sql | Your numeric user ID. |
DBT_ACCOUNT_ID | Required for Admin API | Your numeric account ID. |
See Finding your IDs for step-by-step instructions on locating each value.
dbt MCP has two modes for controlling which tools are available: disable mode (default) and enable mode (allowlist).
Toolsets may grow over time as new capabilities are added. The naming pattern generalizes to DISABLE_{TOOLSET}= and DBT_MCP_ENABLE_{TOOLSET}=, so new toolsets follow the same convention. For the latest list of toolset names, refer to the tables below or the dbt-mcp README.
- Disable mode: Use when you want most tools available and only need to turn a few off.
- Enable mode: Use when you want only a specific set of tools available.
Do not mix both modes for the same toolset. For example avoid this pattern:
DISABLE_SEMANTIC_LAYER=false
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_SEMANTIC_LAYER=true
Also avoid empty `DBT_MCP_ENABLE_*=` lines as they activate enable mode and will silently disable all other toolsets.
All tools are available by default. To disable a toolset, set any of the following variables to true in your MCP client configuration:
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
DISABLE_DBT_CLI | false | Disable dbt CLI tools. |
DISABLE_SEMANTIC_LAYER | false | Disable Semantic Layer tools. |
DISABLE_DISCOVERY | false | Disable Discovery API tools. |
DISABLE_ADMIN_API | false | Disable Admin API tools. |
DISABLE_SQL | true | SQL tools are disabled by default. Set to false to enable. |
DISABLE_DBT_CODEGEN | true | Codegen tools are disabled by default. Set to false to enable (requires dbt-codegen package). |
DISABLE_LSP | false | Disable LSP/Fusion tools. |
DISABLE_MCP_SERVER_METADATA | true | Server metadata tools are disabled by default. Set to false to enable. |
DISABLE_TOOLS | "" | Comma-separated list of specific tool names to disable. |
If any DBT_MCP_ENABLE_* variable is set, only the explicitly enabled toolsets are active:
| Variable | Description |
|---|
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_DBT_CLI | Set to true to enable dbt CLI tools. |
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_SEMANTIC_LAYER | Set to true to enable Semantic Layer tools. |
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_DISCOVERY | Set to true to enable Discovery API tools. |
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_ADMIN_API | Set to true to enable Admin API tools. |
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_SQL | Set to true to enable SQL tools. |
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_DBT_CODEGEN | Set to true to enable codegen tools. |
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_LSP | Set to true to enable LSP/Fusion tools. |
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_TOOLS | Comma-separated list of specific tool names to enable. |
When multiple variables are set, they're evaluated in this order (highest priority first):
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_TOOLS (enable specific tools by name)DISABLE_TOOLS (disable specific tools by name)- Toolset enable (
DBT_MCP_ENABLE_*=true)
- Toolset disable (
DISABLE_*=true)
- Default behavior
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
DBT_MCP_LOG_LEVEL | INFO | Log level for the MCP server. Options: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL. Set to DEBUG temporarily to diagnose issues. |
MCP_TRANSPORT | stdio | Transport protocol. Set to streamable-http for local debugging only (for example, attaching a Python debugger). See the dbt-mcp CONTRIBUTING guide. |
