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dbt Wizard in Studio IDE PreviewStarterEnterpriseEnterprise +

Use dbt Wizard in the Studio IDE to ship trusted dbt changes faster. It understands your project, answers context-grounded questions, generates models, tests, docs, and Semantic Layer definitions, and shows file diffs before changes are persisted.

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dbt Wizard is in preview as of May 6, 2026 for Starter, Enterprise, and Enterprise+ plans. Enterprise and Enterprise+ customers can contact their account manager for access. Starter customers can contact dbt Labs Support.

dbt Wizard supports the dbt development lifecycle from investigation to review. Use it to:

  • Ask project-aware questions using lineage, metadata, and catalog context.
  • Build or refactor models from natural-language prompts.
  • Generate and validate YAML for tests, documentation, semantic models, and metrics.
  • Make scoped edits to logic, names, materializations, tests, and related YAML.
  • Investigate job and run failures with dbt Agent Skills.

The agent comes with the following out of the box, meaning no configuration needed:

Prerequisites

Availability and considerations

  • Where it runs: Supported in the Studio IDE only, all deployment types. Not supported in VS Code or the dbt CLI.
  • Engines: Works with dbt Fusion engine and dbt Core.
  • Conversations: In the conversation list, open More actions menu (three dots) of the conversation you want to delete, then click Delete to remove one thread. Deleting the open thread clears the panel.
  • Sessions: Refreshing the same browser tab keeps your active session. A new tab, or returning after closing the tab, starts empty.
  • Chat history: Retained for 90 days only. Chat history isn't supported yet on single-tenant deployments, so save anything important before closing.
  • Plan mode: Not supported yet. The agent doesn't show a separate plan before applying changes, however you can use the Ask for approval mode to approve each file.
  • New chat: Click Start new dbt Wizard chat (top right of the dbt Wizard panel) to begin a new session.

Using dbt Wizard

Use the dbt Wizard panel to generate resources with quick actions, or use the agent to build and refactor models end-to-end with natural language prompts.

To use the dbt Wizard, follow these steps:

  1. Open your dbt project in the Studio IDE, then click dbt Wizard in the command palette.
  2. Start a prompt in several ways in the dbt Wizard panel:
    • Quick actions: Use quick-action resource generation at the top of the panel to generate documentation, tests, semantic models, and metrics.
    • Plain text: Type directly into the text field to describe what you want to build or change.
    • Model context: Type @ to select a model as context. This scopes the agent's changes to that resource.
  3. Select the Agent mode button to specify the mode for the dbt Wizard. Available modes are Ask for approval (default) and Edit files automatically.
  4. Review the agent's suggestions and approve or reject the changes. You can also use the Start new dbt Wizard chat button to start a new chat session.
  5. Approve dbt commands when the dbt Wizard requests to run commands like dbt compile or dbt build.
  6. Repeat the process to build or change more models.
  7. Commit the changes to your dbt project and open a pull request.
Example of using the dbt Wizard to refactor a model in the Studio IDE.

For more details on the dbt Wizard and how it works, expand the following sections to open additional information.

 Panel controls

The dbt Wizard panel contains:

  1. Quick actions (center): Buttons at the top of the panel for common tasks like generating documentation, tests, semantic models, and metrics. When selected, the text field is pre-filled with a prompt.
  2. Agent mode button (bottom left): Switch between Ask for approval and Edit files automatically mode. Click the button to change modes.
  3. dbt model context (bottom left): Shows the currently open file. Use @ in the text field to reference a different dbt model. Click x to remove the dbt model context.
  4. Text input field (bottom left): Type your prompt in the text field to describe what you want to build or change. Type @ to select a dbt model as context. This scopes the agent's changes to that resource.
  5. Start new dbt Wizard chat (top right): Starts a new chat session.
  6. Stop or Enter (bottom right): Press Enter to submit your prompt. Press Stop to stop the current session and agent processing. You cannot undo this action.
The Wizard panel in the Studio IDE showing quick-action buttons, text input field, and agent mode controls.The Wizard panel in the Studio IDE showing quick-action buttons, text input field, and agent mode controls.
 Agent modes

The dbt Wizard operates in two modes:

ModeBehavior
Ask for approval (default)The agent drafts edits to files. You approve each file change before it is persisted. Best when you want tight control over what gets saved to your branch.
Edit files automaticallyThe agent drafts and automatically saves file edits without per-file approval. Best for faster iteration when you're confident in the prompt.

You can switch between modes at any time by clicking the Agent mode button in the dbt Wizard panel.

dbt Wizard in Ask for approval mode, requesting approval before making file edits.dbt Wizard in Ask for approval mode, requesting approval before making file edits.
 Reviewing agent suggestions

When the dbt Wizard proposes code changes, you can review them before they are saved to your project:

  • View the diff: The agent displays a diff of the proposed changes. Click Show all X lines to expand and view the full suggestion.
  • Line indicators: Added and removed lines are highlighted with line number indicators so you can see exactly what changed.
  • Copy or open in editor: Use the options in the top-right corner of the diff view to copy the suggestion or open it directly in the editor.
dbt Wizard displaying a diff of proposed YAML changes with line indicators and copy/open options.dbt Wizard displaying a diff of proposed YAML changes with line indicators and copy/open options.
 Granting command permissions

To validate or run models during a session, the agent may request to run dbt commands such as dbt compile or dbt build. You'll be prompted to approve each request before it executes. For example, the agent might request to run:

dbt compile --select model_name

You can select one of the following options:

OptionBehavior
Yes, run onceGrants permission to run this specific command one time.
Yes, and allow dbt_command_name for the sessionGrants permission to run dbt commands for the remainder of your session without prompting again.
NoDenies the request. The agent will not run the command.

After you run a command, dbt Wizard adds an icon and a tooltip to the Studio IDE Commands tab results. This helps you distinguish agent-run commands from manually run commands in the run results and logs.

Commands run by dbt Wizard appear in the Studio IDE Commands tab with a dbt Wizard icon and 'Run by dbt Wizard' tooltip.Commands run by dbt Wizard appear in the Studio IDE Commands tab with a dbt Wizard icon and 'Run by dbt Wizard' tooltip.

Bringing your own skills

You can extend dbt Wizard with custom skills to encode your team's SQL conventions, naming rules, and modeling workflows — so you don't repeat them in every prompt. See Skills for the full reference, including how to create, structure, and invoke skills.

Debug job failures

The dbt Wizard can investigate and troubleshoot dbt job and run failures directly from the Studio IDE. This capability is powered by the troubleshooting-dbt-job-errors dbt Agent Skill, which comes pre-configured with the agent — no setup required.

You can ask the agent questions and issue commands like:

  • "What jobs have failed recently?"
  • "What is the root cause of the job failure?"
  • "How can I fix the recent job failure?"
  • "Fix the job failure."

The agent notes when your local project state may differ from the job — for example, if you're on a different branch or have uncommitted changes — so you have full context before acting on any suggested fixes.

Timeout handling

When a dbt command run by dbt Wizard runs for more than 5 minutes, the agent automatically attempts to stop the command on the server before returning control to you.

Instead of hanging or showing a generic error, the agent returns a clear message that explains the command timed out and was aborted. The message also tells you whether the cancellation request succeeded. If cancellation fails, it's possible the command may still be running on the server.

You can then choose whether to retry the command, narrow the request, or take another action.

Fusion migration workflow

If you have access to dbt Wizard with AI features enabled, you can use the Fusion migration workflow skill. This skill can help you fix compatibility errors directly from the Studio IDE using dbt Wizard — no manual log investigation needed. It classifies every error, applies validated fixes automatically, and surfaces what's blocked.

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The Fusion migration workflow is accessible through the dbt Wizard in the Studio IDE. If you're using VS Code or the dbt CLI, use the autofix tool instead.

  1. From the job list, click the Review job button for a job with a successful run.
    • If you don't see the Review job button, enable the Show Fusion eligibility toggle in the job list.
  2. In the Fusion eligibility unknown for this job pop-up, click Debug in Studio with dbt Wizard.
  3. dbt redirects you to the Studio IDE and sets your personal development environment to Fusion.
  4. dbt Wizard opens and automatically triggers the Fusion migration skill with this prompt:
    I need help fixing Fusion compatibility issues in this project. Please investigate and resolve any deprecation warnings or incompatibilities. Please use the migrating-dbt-core-to-fusion skill to guide this.
  5. Review and approve dbt Wizard's permission requests so it can run the commands it needs.
  6. The dbt Wizard iteratively runs dbt compile, reads the results, and applies fixes until it reaches a successful compile or encounters an error it can't resolve. If it gets blocked, it exits cleanly, explains what it could not fix, and creates and links to a markdown file summarizing all changes made.
  7. When the project compiles with no warnings or errors, commit and publish your changes.
  8. After you merge the changes, wait for the job to run again or run it manually on Fusion.
The Developer Agent's fusion migration workflow triaging and fixing Fusion compatibility errors in the Studio IDE.The Developer Agent's fusion migration workflow triaging and fixing Fusion compatibility errors in the Studio IDE.

For more on how to prepare your project for Fusion and what to do when you hit compatibility errors, see the Fusion readiness checklist and the Upgrade to Fusion guides.

Writing effective prompts

Good prompts include the scope (which models or area of the project), the intent (the transformation or business logic you want), and any constraints (naming conventions, materialization, tests). Here are a few examples:

TaskExample prompt
Build a new model"Create a model called fct_daily_revenue that joins stg_orders and stg_payments, aggregates revenue by day, and materializes as a table."
Refactor an existing model"Refactor fct_orders to use incremental materialization. Keep existing tests and follow our naming conventions."
Generate tests and docs"Add not_null and unique tests to the primary key of dim_customers, and generate documentation for all columns."

For detailed guidance, patterns, and more examples across SQL, documentation, tests, and semantic models, see the Prompt cookbook.

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