reference-profiles.md

title	profiles.yml reference
description	Every key of profiles.yml: connections, destinations and their targets.
section	reference
position	8

profiles.yml reference

Connections and destinations, in profiles.yml: what reports read from and where outputs go. Kept outside the project (~/.dre, --profiles-dir or DRE_PROFILES_DIR). Every profile lists its targets (environments). Each profile the run uses picks one: --target, else DRE_TARGET (either sets every profile), else the profile's own target, else dev; a used profile without that entry is an error.

Where: profiles.yml.

For editor autocomplete and validation, add this as the first line of the file (editor setup):

# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://getdre.com/schemas/v0.8/profiles.schema.json

For copyable examples and common errors, see Connections and targets. The glossary defines DRE's terms.

Keys

Key	Type	Default	Description
connections	map		Database connections, referenced by default_profile, profile: (report, query, Set, folder +profile) and a source's profile.
sources	map		DRE 0.1's name for connections:. Still read in 0.2.x, with a warning: rename it to connections:.
destinations	map		Delivery targets, referenced by output.destination.profile.

connections.<name>

A named connection with one entry per target (environment).

Key	Type	Default	Description
target	string		This profile's entry when neither --target nor DRE_TARGET is set (dbt's key). Default: dev. It doesn't change target.name, the run's target.
targets (required)	map		The environments of this connection, by name (e.g. dev, prod).

connections.<name>.targets.<name>

One target of a profile: a connection or delivery configuration. type names the plugin; every other key is a field of that plugin (see the plugins reference), and secrets belong in {{ env_var('NAME') }}.

Key	Type	Default	Description
type (required)	string		The plugin type of the connection, e.g. duckdb, postgres, databricks, sftp, s3. local needs no plugin.
threads	integer		Connections only: how many Bindings may run on this entry at once in a dre run (default 1: one after another). A DuckDB file is always 1. --threads and DRE_THREADS cap the whole run. Concurrent Bindings must not write the same permanent table, and peak memory grows with it.
other keys			Options of the plugin that handles this block; see Plugins.

destinations.<name>

A named destination with one entry per target (environment).

Key	Type	Default	Description
targets (required)	map		The environments of this destination, by name (e.g. dev, prod). An entry is a delivery configuration, or {deliver: false} to deliver nowhere on that target.
target	string		This profile's entry when neither --target nor DRE_TARGET is set (dbt's key). Default: dev. It doesn't change target.name, the run's target.

destinations.<name>.targets.<name>

A destination entry is a delivery configuration (type and the plugin's fields, as for a connection), or {deliver: false}: it deliberately delivers nowhere. The output stays in the target path, the run logs it, and run_results.json records the delivery as not_delivered. Destinations only.

Key	Type	Default	Description
deliver (required)	false		false: this target delivers nowhere. Takes no other keys.

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