dbt-redshift

What it is and what it does

dbt-redshift is a plugin that bridges dbt (data build tool) and Amazon Redshift, allowing data engineers and analysts to write transformation logic in SQL and YAML rather than managing warehouse operations manually. It extends dbt-core with Redshift-specific connection handling, query compilation, and schema management. The adapter sits between your dbt project and Redshift, translating dbt's declarative transformation models into native Redshift SQL and executing them in your warehouse.

You use it by installing the package, configuring your Redshift credentials in dbt's profiles file, and then writing dbt models (SQL files and YAML definitions) that describe how to transform raw data. dbt-redshift handles the plumbing: connecting to Redshift, running queries in the right order, managing schemas, and tracking lineage. It's part of the broader dbt ecosystem, which means you get version control, testing, documentation generation, and CI/CD integration for your data transformations—the same practices software engineers use for application code.

Use it for:

• Build and version-control SQL transformation pipelines in Redshift using dbt's declarative model syntax and YAML configuration.
• Organize raw warehouse data into clean, denormalized analytics tables ready for BI tools and reporting.
• Implement data quality tests and generate documentation for your Redshift transformation logic automatically.
• Integrate Redshift transformations into CI/CD workflows to validate changes before deploying to production.
• Collaborate on data transformation code using Git workflows, code review, and dbt Cloud orchestration.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

dbt-redshift is an adapter that enables dbt to transform and manage data directly in Amazon Redshift warehouses using dbt's SQL and YAML-based workflow.

Yes. dbt-redshift is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, supports current Python versions (3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13), and carries a permissive license. Install it if you use Amazon Redshift and want to adopt dbt's version-controlled, software-engineering approach to data transformation. It has low install friction and is backed by dbt Labs' ongoing development.

Install

dbt-redshift on PyPI

pip install dbt-redshift

uv add dbt-redshift

poetry add dbt-redshift

Installing dbt-redshift

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. Actively maintained with a recent release 29 days ago and steady commit activity. Depends on dbt-core and dbt-adapters as core runtime dependencies, plus standard utilities like requests and sqlparse.

License in practice

Licensed under the permissive Apache Software License, which allows commercial use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for most organizational and commercial projects.

Quickstart

pip install dbt-redshift

# In profiles.yml, configure your Redshift connection
my-redshift-db:
  target: dev
  outputs:
    dev:
      type: redshift
      host: [hostname]
      user: [username]
      password: [password]
      dbname: [database]
      schema: [schema]
      threads: [1 or more]

# Then run dbt commands
dbt run

Requires Python 3.10.0 or later. You must have a running Amazon Redshift cluster and valid credentials configured in dbt's profiles.yml.

Verify before relying

• Whether the adapter supports all Redshift-specific features (e.g., Spectrum, materialized views) beyond standard SQL transformations.
• Performance characteristics and any known limitations when working with very large datasets or complex dependency graphs in Redshift.
• Default port and connection parameters for Redshift connections.

Package facts

Evidence: dbt_redshift-1.11.0-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: adapter, adapters, amazon, amazon web services, aws, database, dbt, dbt Cloud, dbt Core, dbt Labs, dbt-core, elt, redshift

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