dbt-fabricator Documentation

Basic Setup

Setting up dbt-fabricator by 2BIT in Microsoft Fabric is quick and fully integrated into the Fabric UI. The setup requires no external installations or infrastructure.

1. Enable dbt-fabricator in your tenant

  • Go to the Workloads section in Microsoft Fabric
  • Select “Add more workloads”
  • Enable dbt-fabricator from the list

2. Ensure prerequisites are met

  • Livy API must be enabled in your tenant settings
  • A Lakehouse and a Warehouse must exist in your workspace

3. Add a dbt project to your workspace

  • In your workspace, click + New → dbt Project
  • Provide a name for the project
  • Select a Lakehouse and folder — this is where the dbt project will be stored
  • Select a Warehouse — this is where the models will be executed
  • Choose authentication mode:
    • Integrated (current user), or
    • Service principal (client ID, app ID, and secret)
      — credentials will be encrypted and stored securely in the Lakehouse

4. Upload your dbt project

Upload the full dbt project (including dbt_project.yml and model folders) to the specified folder in your Lakehouse.

You’re now ready to run transformations, preview models, and use the graph view.

Trial

2BIT provides an integrated trial experience for dbt-fabricator, allowing users to explore its capabilities without requiring their own data or configuration.

How to Start a Trial

When creating a new dbt project in Microsoft Fabric, simply select the “Trial mode” option during setup. A full sample environment will be provisioned for you automatically:

  • A sample Lakehouse preloaded with a basic dbt project
  • A sample Warehouse with synthetic demo data
  • Preconfigured settings for immediate execution and preview

This lets you explore the full interface, run models, and preview the results — all without touching your production environment.

List View

After setup, each dbt-fabricator project appears in a workspace-level List View. This view provides an overview of all configured dbt projects and their current status.

What You'll See

  • Project Name — the display name of your dbt project
  • Last Run — date and time of the most recent execution
  • Status — success, failure, or pending indicators
  • Warehouse — the target Fabric warehouse used for model execution
  • Lakehouse Folder — the storage location of the dbt project files

From the List View, you can also open individual projects to view the model graph, review logs, reconfigure settings, or trigger new runs manually.

Graph View

The Graph View in dbt-fabricator provides a visual representation of your dbt project's model dependencies, helping you understand data flow and execution logic at a glance.

Key Features

  • DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) layout of all models in your project
  • Color-coded nodes based on materialization type (e.g. view, table, incremental)
  • Hover and click actions to inspect individual model details
  • Model-level status indicators for success, failure, and skip

This view is especially useful for large or complex dbt projects, giving teams a shared understanding of how transformations are structured within Microsoft Fabric.

Schedule

dbt-fabricator integrates directly with Microsoft Fabric’s built-in scheduling functionality. This allows you to automate the execution of dbt models without any additional tools or configuration.

How Scheduling Works

  • Navigate to your dbt project within the Fabric workspace
  • Select the “Schedule” option from the toolbar
  • Define frequency (e.g. hourly, daily), time zone, and start time
  • Choose recurrence options and failure notifications

Schedules are managed entirely within Microsoft Fabric and apply to each individual dbt project. Scheduled runs use the configuration and credentials defined during project setup.

Run via Pipeline

You can execute dbt-fabricator jobs as part of a Microsoft Fabric Data Pipeline using a Call a web activity. This allows you to orchestrate dbt model runs alongside other data processes.

Step-by-Step

  1. Set up an API connection:
    • Go to Settings → Manage connections in Microsoft Fabric
    • Create a new connection of type API connection
    • Authentication kind: Organizational account
    • Token audience URI: https://dbt-fabricator.2bitcloud.ch/frontend/backend/2bit.dbt
  2. Get the run URL:
    • Open your dbt-fabricator project in Fabric
    • Click the “Copy Pipeline URL” button — this is the endpoint used to trigger execution
  3. Use “Call a web activity” in your pipeline:
    • Add a Call a web activity to your Fabric Data Pipeline
    • Select the API connection you created earlier
    • Paste the run URL as the target endpoint
    • Optionally pass parameters such as target name or dbt flags via the payload

This setup ensures that your dbt transformations are fully automated, secure, and natively integrated within your Fabric orchestration flows.