topic How to run DBT spark jobs for Fabric lakehouse. in Data Engineering

How to run DBT spark jobs for Fabric lakehouse.

chetanhiwale — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 11:20:03 GMT

Hi folks,

I am looking for dbt and lakehouse setup, like what should the profile and project file have.

Things I am looking for.
1. Setting up connection using DBT with lakehouse

2. How dbt wil run Spark jobs. Do I need to specify .py files in dbt directory or should have fabric notebooks in Fabric portal.

3. What is the authentication methods
4. Limitations while using the DBT for spark job in Fabric.

Please share you thoughts on this.

Thanks !!

Re: How to run DBT spark jobs for Fabric lakehouse.

deborshi_nag — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 12:10:18 GMT

Hello @chetanhiwale

There's a tutorial for this in Microsoft docs . Here's the link

Set up dbt for Fabric Data Warehouse - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

In addition to the above there are some good materials online. Here are a couple of links:

A blog on running dbt-fabric adapter in Fabric notebooks

Running DBT with the dbt-fabric Adapter in a Fabric Notebook | Blog

A quickstart for dbt on Fabric

Quickstart for dbt and Microsoft Fabric | dbt Developer Hub

In summary you can use dbt core using either of these approaches:

1. dbt Core locally using dbt-fabric adapter

2. dbt Core inside a Fabric notebook.

Generally the process involves the following steps:

Install dbt + dbt-fabric
Create Fabric Warehouse
Configure profiles.yml
Build models (SQL)
Run / test / document

For authentication it is best you use a Microsoft Entra Service Principle.

Re: How to run DBT spark jobs for Fabric lakehouse.

v-hashadapu — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 12:13:49 GMT

Hi @chetanhiwale , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.

dbt connects to a Fabric Lakehouse by using Fabric’s Spark SQL endpoint, not by connecting to the Lakehouse storage directly. Fabric exposes its Lakehouse through a managed Spark engine and that Spark engine exposes a SQL interface that external tools can connect to. dbt uses the dbt-spark adapter to send SQL over this endpoint and Spark executes that SQL against Delta tables stored in the Lakehouse.

When you run dbt, it does not run Python code or Fabric notebooks. dbt always compiles your models into SQL and sends that SQL to Spark. Spark then executes statements like CREATE TABLE AS SELECT, MERGE or INSERT and writes the results into Delta tables in the Lakehouse. You do not need to create notebooks or .py files for dbt, all transformations happen through Spark SQL.

Authentication is done using Azure Entra ID (Azure AD). Fabric Spark endpoints only accept Azure AD bearer tokens, so dbt must authenticate either as a service principal for production or as a user for development. There are no SQL usernames, passwords or PAT tokens for Spark in Fabric, which is why dbt must be configured to use an Azure AD access token in profiles.yml.

dbt works well in Fabric for SQL based transformations such as models, incremental loads, snapshots and tests because Fabric Lakehouse is built on Delta Lake and Spark. What it cannot do is run PySpark, trigger Fabric notebooks or execute Fabric pipelines, because Fabric does not expose those runtimes to external tools like dbt. Spark in Fabric is also serverless, so you cannot control cluster size or install custom libraries.

The practical result is that dbt in Fabric is a SQL transformation layer on top of the Lakehouse. dbt sends SQL, Spark executes it and Delta tables are written back to the Lakehouse for Power BI, Direct Lake or the Warehouse to consume.

dbt job in Microsoft Fabric (preview) - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

What is the SQL analytics endpoint for a lakehouse? - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Fabric Spark configurations | dbt Developer Hub

Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse setup | dbt Developer Hub

Re: How to run DBT spark jobs for Fabric lakehouse.

v-ssriganesh — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 07:16:49 GMT

Hello @chetanhiwale,

Could you please confirm if your query has been resolved by the provided solutions? This would be helpful for other members who may encounter similar issues.

Thank you for being part of the Microsoft Fabric Community.

Re: How to run DBT spark jobs for Fabric lakehouse.

v-hashadapu — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 05:17:29 GMT

Hi @chetanhiwale , Hope you're doing okay! May we know if it worked for you, or are you still experiencing difficulties? Let us know — your feedback can really help others in the same situation.