Where Are dbt Profiles Stored?
dbt stores connection profiles in profiles.yml, usually in a .dbt folder in home. Project code, build output and logs live in the project folder.
Last updated
dbt separates credentials from project code. The profiles.yml file holds connection details and can serve several projects. The recommended shared location is the .dbt folder in your home directory.
A dbt project folder holds dbt_project.yml plus models and seeds. Running dbt creates target and logs folders in that project. Those generated folders are normally excluded from version control.
Where dbt stores this, by platform
C:\Users\<username>\.dbt\profiles.yml
Recommended shared profile file. <username> stands for your Windows login name. Project files live wherever you cloned the project and include dbt_project.yml. Build output is target and logs subfolders in that project.
/Users/<username>/.dbt/profiles.yml
Recommended shared profile file. <username> stands for your macOS login name. Project files live wherever you cloned the project and include dbt_project.yml. Build output is target and logs subfolders in that project.
/home/<username>/.dbt/profiles.yml
Recommended shared profile file. <username> stands for your Linux login name. Project files live wherever you cloned the project and include dbt_project.yml. Build output is target and logs subfolders in that project.
Frequently asked questions
How do I point dbt to a different profiles.yml?
Use the profiles dir run option for one command, or set DBT_PROFILES_DIR or DBT_ENGINE_PROFILES_DIR for that shell. The file itself must still be named profiles.yml.
How do I find which profiles file dbt uses?
Run dbt debug with the config dir display to show the expected config path. Also check for a profiles.yml copy in the current folder or project root, since those can take precedence over the home folder copy.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.