Is dbt Charts free and open source?

dbt Charts ships its YAML language, rendering engine and dct CLI under the Apache-2.0 licence, so the whole local workflow is free. dbtCharts.com is a separate hosted product, currently in public beta, that adds hosting, access control and a UI on top of the same open language.

Do you need dbt to use dbt Charts?

No. The dbt Charts documentation states that dbt is optional and that the tool works with plain SQL. If you do run dbt, boards can call ref() and source() to point at your existing models, which is what keeps charts and models in one repo on one branch.

Which databases does dbt Charts work with?

dbt Charts supports DuckDB and SQLite out of the box and adds Postgres, Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, Spark and Trino through warehouse extras such as uv tool install "dbt-charts[snowflake]". Local CSV and Parquet files also work. Python 3.10 or newer is required.

What does dbtCharts.com add over the open-source CLI?

The hosted dbtCharts.com platform layers conversational analytics, a visual editor, version history and permissioned sharing over the open-source language. Sharing is the practical difference: people and groups can open a board without having their own warehouse login. It is in public beta.

dbt Labs · 2026-09-14 · major

dbt Charts — dashboards as YAML, so an agent can write them

dbt Charts is an Apache-2.0 language from dbt Labs that describes a full interactive dashboard in one YAML file. It exists because AI agents write good code but bad BI clicks, so the dashboard becomes a file you can review in a pull request.

dbt Charts announcement banner from dbt Labs

One YAML file describes a whole interactive dashboard, so charts live in Git next to the models they read.

Quick facts

Maker	dbt Labs
License	Apache-2.0
Install	uv tool install dbt-charts
CLI	dct
Chart types	16, plus composed charts
Export formats	HTML, PDF, PNG, SVG, JSON
Hosted service	dbtCharts.com, public beta

What is it?

dbt Charts puts the dashboard itself into a YAML file instead of a BI tool's click-through editor. The file names the SQL queries, the chart types, and the row-and-column layout, and the engine turns it into an interactive board. dbt Labs released the language, the engine and the dct CLI under Apache-2.0 on 14 September 2026, alongside a hosted dbtCharts.com platform in public beta.

How does it work?

SQL still says WHAT data to pull; the YAML layer says HOW to show it. You declare queries (inline values, raw SQL, or dbt ref() and source() calls), then charts that map columns to a visual, then rows and cols for layout. The dct CLI validates a board without touching the warehouse, serves a live preview with working filters, and renders to HTML, PDF, PNG, SVG or JSON. Sixteen chart types ship built in, along with five themes.

Why does it matter?

Handing an agent a BI tool means handing it a mouse. Dave Fowler's announcement argues that when you instead ask an agent for a dashboard, you get a pile of HTML, CSS and JavaScript nobody wants to review. A single readable YAML file is diffable, so a change to a dbt model and a change to the chart that reads it ship on the same branch through the same CI run.

Who is it for?

analytics engineers and data teams using AI agents

Frequently asked questions

Is dbt Charts free and open source?: dbt Charts ships its YAML language, rendering engine and dct CLI under the Apache-2.0 licence, so the whole local workflow is free. dbtCharts.com is a separate hosted product, currently in public beta, that adds hosting, access control and a UI on top of the same open language.
Do you need dbt to use dbt Charts?: No. The dbt Charts documentation states that dbt is optional and that the tool works with plain SQL. If you do run dbt, boards can call ref() and source() to point at your existing models, which is what keeps charts and models in one repo on one branch.
Which databases does dbt Charts work with?: dbt Charts supports DuckDB and SQLite out of the box and adds Postgres, Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, Spark and Trino through warehouse extras such as uv tool install "dbt-charts[snowflake]". Local CSV and Parquet files also work. Python 3.10 or newer is required.
What does dbtCharts.com add over the open-source CLI?: The hosted dbtCharts.com platform layers conversational analytics, a visual editor, version history and permissioned sharing over the open-source language. Sharing is the practical difference: people and groups can open a board without having their own warehouse login. It is in public beta.

Try it

uv tool install dbt-charts && dct skills intro