Quickstart - Run dbt UI with Docker Compose

Quickstart for the dbt UI

Launch dbt-Workbench locally in minutes with Docker Compose. The stack ships with a demo dbt project and sample artifacts, so you can validate lineage visualization, run orchestration, and the dbt catalog viewer on first boot.

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Docker Compose

Run the stack

docker-compose up --build
# or
docker compose up --build

The services will be available at:

• UI: http://localhost:3000
• API: http://localhost:8000
• API Docs: http://localhost:8000/docs

Mount dbt artifacts

The backend expects dbt artifacts under ./sample_artifacts, mapped into the container as /app/dbt_artifacts.

./sample_artifacts → /app/dbt_artifacts

Replace sample_artifacts with your dbt target/ directory containing:

• manifest.json
• run_results.json
• catalog.json

To enable the dbt docs viewer, include the full dbt docs generate output (the index.html and accompanying assets) inside the mounted target/ directory. dbt-Workbench will serve that documentation site directly from the latest artifacts.

Next steps

• Review the dbt lineage visualization experience.
• Set up dbt run orchestration and streaming logs.
• Configure the dbt scheduler for cron-driven runs.
• Explore the dbt SQL workspace workflow.

Related pages

• dbt UI overview
• dbt artifacts viewer
• dbt docs viewer