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About dbt init command

dbt init helps get you started using dbt Core!

New project​

If this is your first time ever using the tool, it will:

  • ask you to name your project
  • ask you which database adapter you're using (or refer to Supported Data Platforms)
  • prompt you for each piece of information that dbt needs to connect to that database, such as account, user, password, and more

Then, it will:

  • Create a new folder with your project name and sample files, enough to get you started with dbt
  • Create a connection profile on your local machine. The default location is ~/.dbt/profiles.yml. Read more in configuring your profile.
  • Generate a .gitignore file that includes .env (starting in dbt Core v1.12), target/, dbt_packages/, and logs/ so local credentials and build artifacts are excluded from version control by default.

When using dbt init to initialize your project, include the --profile flag to specify an existing profiles.yml as the profile: key to use instead of creating a new one. For example, dbt init --profile profile_name.

If the profile does not exist in profiles.yml or the command is run inside an existing project, the command raises an error.

Command-line options​

dbt init --help includes both global flags (which apply to all dbt commands) and a small number of init-specific options. The most commonly used init options are:

  • PROJECT_NAME (optional positional argument): Name of the project folder to create. If omitted, dbt init prompts you for a project name.
  • --profile PROFILE_NAME: Use an existing profile name from your profiles.yml instead of prompting to create or configure one.
  • -s, --skip-profile-setup: Skip interactive profile setup.
dbt init [PROJECT_NAME] [--profile PROFILE_NAME] [--skip-profile-setup]

For global command options that also apply to dbt init, refer to Command line options.

Existing project​

If you've just cloned or downloaded an existing dbt project, dbt init can still help you set up your connection profile so that you can start working quickly. It will prompt you for connection information, as above, and add a profile (using the profile name from the project) to your local profiles.yml, or create the file if it doesn't already exist.

profile_template.yml​

dbt init knows how to prompt for connection information by looking for a file named profile_template.yml. It will look for this file in two places:

  • Adapter plugin: What's the bare minimum Postgres profile? What's the type of each field, what are its defaults? This information is stored in a file called dbt/include/postgres/profile_template.yml. If you're the maintainer of an adapter plugin, we highly recommend that you add a profile_template.yml to your plugin, too. Refer to the Build, test, document, and promote adapters guide for more information.

  • Existing project: If you're the maintainer of an existing project, and you want to help new users get connected to your database quickly and easily, you can include your own custom profile_template.yml in the root of your project, alongside dbt_project.yml. For common connection attributes, set the values in fixed; leave user-specific attributes in prompts, but with custom hints and defaults as you'd like.

profile_template.yml
fixed:
  account: abc123
  authenticator: externalbrowser
  database: analytics
  role: transformer
  type: snowflake
  warehouse: transforming
prompts:
  target:
    type: string
    hint: your desired target name
  user:
    type: string
    hint: yourname@jaffleshop.com
  schema:
    type: string
    hint: usually dbt_<yourname>
  threads:
    hint: "your favorite number, 1-10"
    type: int
    default: 8
$ dbt init
Running with dbt=1.0.0
Setting up your profile.
user (yourname@jaffleshop.com): summerintern@jaffleshop.com
schema (usually dbt_<yourname>): dbt_summerintern
threads (your favorite number, 1-10) [8]: 6
Profile internal-snowflake written to /Users/intern/.dbt/profiles.yml using project's profile_template.yml and your supplied values. Run 'dbt debug' to validate the connection.

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