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Server not starting

Symptoms: The MCP server shows as disconnected or unavailable in your client.

Diagnosis: Check the server logs:

  • VS Code: Open the Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P) → MCP: List Servers → click the dbt server to see detailed logs.
  • Claude Desktop: Check ~/Library/Logs/Claude (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\logs (Windows).
  • All clients: Set DBT_MCP_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG in your environment variables to get more verbose output.

Common causes:

  • Missing or incorrect (Applies to dbt v1.11 and later) DBT_ENGINE_PROJECT_DIR or DBT_PATH — verify the paths exist and are absolute paths.
  • Invalid or expired authentication tokens — generate a new token and update your config.
  • Missing required environment variables for the toolset you're trying to use — see Tool requirements.

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