---
name: watsonxdata-dbt-watsonx-presto-conf
title: dbt Configuration (setting up your dbt profile)
description: To connect dbt Core to your Presto engine, configure the `profiles.yml` file that is located in `.dbt` of your home directory.
last-updated: 2025-08-14
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonxdata?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# dbt Configuration (setting up your dbt profile)
{: #dbt_watsonx_presto_conf}

To connect dbt Core to your Presto engine, configure the `profiles.yml` file that is located in `.dbt` of your home directory.

You can either copy or export the Presto connection details to create the profiles.yml. To do that, see [Getting connection information](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonxdata?topic=watsonxdata-get_connection&format=markdown).
{: note}

The following is an example configuration:

```bash
my_project:
  outputs:
    saas:
      type: watsonx_presto
      method: BasicAuth
      user: ibmlhapikey_admin
      password: api_key
      host: <host>
      port: <port>
      catalog: analytics
      schema: dbt_drew
      threads: 8
      ssl_verify: true

  target: saas
```
{: codeblock}


The following table covers the parameter details:

| Option | Required/Optional | Description | Example |
| ------ | ----------------- | ----------- | ------- |
| `type`| Required| Specifies the type of connection to be used. Set the connection type to watsonx_presto to indicate that you are using the dbt watsonx Presto adapter for watsonx.data Presto.| `watsonx_presto` |
| `method` | Required (default method is `BasicAuth`) | Authentication method for Presto. | `BasicAuth` |
| `user` | Required | Username for authentication. To authenticate successfully, you must prefix your username with `ibmlhapikey_`. | `ibmlhapikey_admin` |
| `password` | Required if method is `BasicAuth` | API key for authentication. For information about generating API key, see [Creating an API key in the console](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/account?topic=account-userapikey&interface=ui&format=markdown#create_user_key). | Alphanumeric (abc123) |
| `http_headers` | Optional | HTTP headers to send alongside requests to Presto, specified as a yaml dictionary of (header, value) pairs. | X-Presto-Routing-Group: my-cluster |
| `http_scheme` | Optional (default is `http` or `https` for method: `BasicAuth`) | HTTP scheme to use (`http` or `https`). | `https` or `http` |
| `catalog` | Required | Catalog name for building models. | Analytics |
| `schema` | Required | Schema for building models. | dbt_drew |
| `host` | Required | Hostname for connecting to Presto. You can get the hostname by clicking View connect details in the engine details page.  | 127.0.0.1 |
| `port` | Required | Port for connecting to Presto. You can get the port by clicking View connect details in the engine details page.  | 8080 |
| `threads` | Optional (default is 1) | Number of threads for dbt operations. | 8 |
| `ssl_verify` | Optional | Path to the SSL certificate. The SSL certificate path is required if you are not using a secured connection. | `path/to/certificate` |
{: caption="Parameter details" caption-side="bottom"}

If you already use a secured connection, you can disable SSL connection, add the key `use_ssl` with the value `False` for your project.
To use SSL, obtain the SSL certificate, run the following command and save the certificate to the specified location.

```bash
openssl s_client -showcerts -connect <host>:<port>
```
{: codeblock}