About dbt Core
dbt Core is an open sourced project where you can develop from the command line and run your dbt project.
To use dbt Core, your workflow generally looks like:
Build your dbt project in a code editor — popular choices include VSCode and Atom.
Run your project from the command line — macOS ships with a default Terminal program, however you can also use iTerm or the command line prompt within a code editor to execute dbt commands.
We've written a guide for our recommended setup when running dbt projects using dbt Core.
If you're using the command line, we recommend learning some basics of your terminal to help you work more effectively. In particular, it's important to understand cd, ls and pwd to be able to navigate through the directory structure of your computer easily.
You can find more information on installing and setting up the dbt Core here.
Note — dbt supports a dbt Cloud CLI and dbt Core, both command line interface tools that enable you to run dbt commands. The key distinction is the dbt Cloud CLI is tailored for dbt Cloud's infrastructure and integrates with all its features.