dbt Setup Guide Private Preview

Follow our setup guide to set up dbt transformations for Fivetran.

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Prerequisites

• dbt installed on your computer. If you have not installed dbt yet, follow dbt's installation instructions.

• A source code editor of your choice (such as VSCode or Atom)

• An account with a Git provider of your choice (such as GitHub or BitBucket)

• One of the following destinations:

  • BigQuery
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redshift
  • Snowflake

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Setup instructions

To see how to set up dbt transformations with Fivetran, read the instructions below or watch this short video:

Get started

1. In the left column of your Fivetran dashboard, go to Transformations.

2. Your Transformations page varies slightly based on whether or not you have set up any basic transformations in your Fivetran dashboard.

   • If you have not set up any basic transformations, click the Try dbt transformations button at the bottom of the page.

   • If you have set up basic transformations, click Enable dbt transformations in the top right corner of the page.

   Note: If you have basic transformations, you will be prompted to download them. You can then re-purpose these scripts in your dbt project.

3. You will be redirected to a page with information about dbt transformations. Read it, then click Enable dbt transformations.

4. In the pop-up window, you'll be prompted to choose a setup option:

   • If you do not have a dbt project yet, click Help me set up my dbt project.
   • If you have a dbt project you'd like to connect, click I am ready to connect my Git repo. Your dbt project must have both a dbt_project.yml file and a deployment.yml file that is specific to Fivetran. Learn more about the deployment.yml file in our writing dbt jobs documentation.

5. If you clicked I am ready to connect my Git repo, skip ahead to Step 7. If you clicked Help me set up my dbt project, continue to the next section.

Create new Git repository

Create a new repository for your new dbt project using your Git provider.

Set up a basic dbt project

1. Open a terminal window.

2. Ensure that you have dbt installed on your computer by running the dbt --version command.

3. Run the dbt init my_git_repo_name command to create your starter dbt package.

4. Open your source code editor.

5. Open the newly created dbt project.

Connect dbt to destination

1. Open the profiles.yml file that was automatically created as part of your dbt installation.

   Note: profiles.yml is a hidden file. It is created in your ~/.dbt folder, not in the dbt project.

2. Set up your profiles.yml file to enable dbt to connect to your destination. How you configure this file differs based on your destination. See dbt's Configure your profile documentation for setup instructions for your destination.

   For additional help, see dbt's profiles.yml documentation.

3. Be sure that the profile name in your dbt_project.yml file matches the profile name in your profiles.yml file.

4. Run the dbt run command. If you have successfully linked your destination, you will see a Completed successfully message.

Note: The profiles.yml file you just created is generally used for local development and testing purposes. Once Fivetran begins to run your dbt models, we generate the production version of the profiles.yml file for your dbt project that you cannot view or edit.

Write dbt jobs

1. Download the deployment.yml file. This file contains jobs that enable Fivetran to run your dbt models on a schedule.

2. Edit the jobs in the deployment.yml file to reflect how and when you want Fivetran to run your dbt models. The file contains instructions on how to do this.

3. In your source code editor, add your edited deployment.yml file to your dbt project.

Link dbt project to Git repository

1. In a terminal window, ensure that you are in the directory of your new dbt project.

2. Run the following commands. Replace the example URL https://github.com/USERNAME/dbt-tutorial.git with the URL of your Git repository.

   $ git init
   $ git add .
   $ git commit -m ‘add your commit message here’
   $ git remote add origin https://github.com/USERNAME/dbt-tutorial.git
   $ git push -u origin master
   

3. Open your Git repository to see your new dbt project.

Grant Fivetran access to Git repository

1. Return to your Fivetran dashboard. You will be redirected to the dbt setup form.

2. Find the public key and click the blue clipboard icon to copy it. You will need it to grant Fivetran SSH access to your Git repository.

3. Follow the instructions for your Git provider below to grant Fivetran SSH access to your repository.

GitHub

1. In your GitHub profile, go to your repository page.

2. Click Settings.

3. In the repository settings sidebar, click Deploy keys.

4. Click Add deploy key.

5. In the Title field, enter 'Fivetran'.

6. In the Key field, paste the Fivetran public key you found in step 2 of this section.

7. Click Add key.

GitLab

Follow GitLab's Deploy key instructions. In your SSH key's Key text box, paste the Fivetran public key you found in step 2 of this section.

BitBucket

Follow these BitBucket SSH key setup instructions. In your SSH key's Key field, paste the Fivetran public key you found in step 2 of this section.

Finish Fivetran Configuration

1. Follow the instructions for your Git provider below to find the URL of your Git repository. The URL must be in the format git@host.xz:path/to/repo.git.

   • In GitHub, go to your repository page and click Code. In the drop-down window, copy the repository URL.
   • In GitLab, go to your repository page and find the HTTPS/SSH dropdown. Select SSH, then copy the repository URL that appears in the text box on the right.
   • In BitBucket, go to your repository's Source page. Click Clone. In the pop-up window, select SSH, then copy the repository URL that appears in the text box below (be sure to remove the git clone prefix). Click Close.

2. In the dbt setup form, enter your Git repository's URL.

3. Enter your chosen default schema name. This production schema will contain your transformed data.

4. Click Save.

5. When your changes have been saved, you will see a Changes have been successfully saved! message. Click Transformations.

6. You will be redirected to your main Transformations page. In the top right corner, set the toggle to ON to enable dbt transformations.

7. Your dbt jobs are synced directly from your deployment.yml file. If you have not added any dbt jobs yet, click Help me write dbt jobs to learn how.

Install Fivetran dbt packages (optional)

Fivetran has created dbt packages for some of our most popular connectors. To install Fivetran's dbt packages, do the following:

1. Go to Fivetran's dbt hub.

2. Click on the name of your connector.

3. Follow the instructions in the Installation section at the top of the page.

4. Run the dbt deps command. The dbt packages for your connector will automatically install in the dbt_modules folder.

5. If you're ready to start your dbt packages, run the dbt run command.