dbt MCP server

The dbt MCP server enables interaction with dbt through the Model Context Protocol. This server allows AI agents to access context from your dbt Core, dbt Fusion, and dbt Platform projects, creating a bridge between your dbt environment and AI assistance tools.

Installation

To get started with the dbt MCP server, follow these installation steps:

Prerequisites

• Python 3.7 or higher
• Access to a dbt project

Install via pip

pip install dbt-mcp-server

Usage

The dbt MCP server can be connected to various AI agents and tools to provide context from your dbt projects.

Starting the Server

To start the dbt MCP server:

dbt-mcp-server start --port 8080

Configuration Options

You can configure the server with the following options:

dbt-mcp-server start --port 8080 --host 0.0.0.0 --log-level INFO

Connecting to AI Agents

The server can be connected to AI tools like Claude or Cursor for enhanced dbt interactions:

1. Start the MCP server as shown above
2. Configure your AI agent to connect to the server endpoint
3. Begin querying your dbt project through the agent

Getting Help

For more detailed information about the dbt MCP server:

• Read the comprehensive documentation at docs.getdbt.com/docs/dbt-ai/about-mcp
• Check out the blog post explaining the possibilities of the dbt MCP server at docs.getdbt.com/blog/introducing-dbt-mcp-server
• Join the community Slack in the #tools-dbt-mcp channel at getdbt.com/community/join-the-community
• Submit issues on GitHub if you encounter problems

Additional Resources

For examples of how to create your own agent to work with the dbt MCP server, explore the examples in the repository.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "dbt-mcp" '{"command":"uvx","args":["--env-file","<path-to-.env-file>","dbt-mcp"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "dbt-mcp": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "--env-file",
                "<path-to-.env-file>",
                "dbt-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "dbt-mcp": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "--env-file",
                "<path-to-.env-file>",
                "dbt-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect