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High severitydbt

Power BI Refresh Error:
Runtime Error: Not a dbt project

What does this error mean?

Dbt cannot find a valid dbt_project.yml in the current directory or any parent directory. dbt was invoked from outside a valid project directory.

Common causes

  • 1Dbt was invoked from a directory that does not contain a dbt project
  • 2The dbt Cloud job has an incorrect project subdirectory configured
  • 3The dbt_project.yml file is missing or was accidentally deleted

How to fix it

  1. 1Ensure you are running dbt commands from the root directory of your dbt project (where dbt_project.yml lives).
  2. 2Verify the dbt_project.yml file exists and is not empty or malformed.
  3. 3If running in CI/CD, confirm the working directory is set to the dbt project root.
  4. 4Check that the project path in dbt Cloud job settings points to the correct directory.

Frequently asked questions

When does this error appear in dbt Cloud vs dbt Core?

In dbt Core: running dbt outside the project root or a missing dbt_project.yml. In dbt Cloud: the job's project path points to a directory without a dbt_project.yml file.

Can this error occur after renaming the project directory?

Yes — if you rename the root directory that contains dbt_project.yml and do not update the dbt Cloud job's project subdirectory path, the job will fail with this error on the next run.

How do I confirm the correct project path in dbt Cloud?

In dbt Cloud, go to Account Settings > Projects > [your project] > Repository and check the 'Project subdirectory' field. This must be the path to the directory containing dbt_project.yml relative to the repository root.

Official documentation: https://docs.getdbt.com/guides/debug-errors

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