dbt Artifact Storage: Local/Shared Filesystem

This guide walks you through configuring a local or shared filesystem as the artifact storage layer for dbt Core + OpenMetadata integration. Ideal for development, single-server deployments, or Kubernetes with shared volumes.

Not recommended for production distributed systems. dbt and OpenMetadata must access the same filesystem. Use cloud storage (S3/GCS/Azure) for production multi-server deployments.

Prerequisites Checklist

Requirement	Details	How to Verify
Shared Filesystem	dbt on same machine or shared volume	Can access same directory
dbt Project	Existing dbt project	`dbt debug`
Database Service	Data warehouse already ingested	Check Settings → Services

Configuration Options

Option A: Same Machine (Development)

If dbt and OpenMetadata run on the same machine: 1. Run dbt and generate artifacts:

cd /path/to/dbt/project
dbt run
dbt test
dbt docs generate

2. Note the target directory path:

# Artifacts are in target/ directory
ls -la target/
# Output: manifest.json, catalog.json, run_results.json

3. Configure OpenMetadata with absolute path:

Manifest: /path/to/dbt/project/target/manifest.json
Catalog: /path/to/dbt/project/target/catalog.json
Run Results: /path/to/dbt/project/target/run_results.json

Option B: Docker Compose with Shared Volume

Perfect for local development stacks. docker-compose.yml:

version: '3.8'

services:
  # dbt service (runs dbt commands)
  dbt:
    image: ghcr.io/dbt-labs/dbt-postgres:latest
    volumes:
      - ./dbt:/usr/app/dbt          # dbt project
      - dbt-artifacts:/dbt-artifacts # Shared volume for artifacts
    command: >
      bash -c "
        dbt run --project-dir /usr/app/dbt &&
        dbt test --project-dir /usr/app/dbt &&
        dbt docs generate --project-dir /usr/app/dbt &&
        cp /usr/app/dbt/target/*.json /dbt-artifacts/
      "
    environment:
      DBT_PROFILES_DIR: /usr/app/dbt

  # OpenMetadata service
  collate:
    image: openmetadata/server:latest
    ports:
      - "8585:8585"
    volumes:
      - dbt-artifacts:/dbt-artifacts  # Same shared volume
    environment:
      # OpenMetadata will read from /dbt-artifacts/
      DBT_ARTIFACTS_PATH: /dbt-artifacts

volumes:
  dbt-artifacts:  # Named volume shared between services

Configure OpenMetadata:

Manifest: /dbt-artifacts/manifest.json
Catalog: /dbt-artifacts/catalog.json
Run Results: /dbt-artifacts/run_results.json

Option C: Kubernetes with PersistentVolumeClaim

For Kubernetes deployments where dbt and OpenMetadata run in the same cluster. 1. Create PersistentVolumeClaim:

# dbt-artifacts-pvc.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: dbt-artifacts
  namespace: data-platform
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteMany  # Critical: Allows multiple pods to read
  storageClassName: nfs-client  # Use NFS, EFS, or similar
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Gi

kubectl apply -f dbt-artifacts-pvc.yaml

2. dbt CronJob (uploads artifacts):

# dbt-cronjob.yaml
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: dbt-runner
  namespace: data-platform
spec:
  schedule: "0 6 * * *"  # Daily at 6 AM
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: dbt
            image: ghcr.io/dbt-labs/dbt-postgres:latest
            command:
            - /bin/bash
            - -c
            - |
              dbt run &&
              dbt test &&
              dbt docs generate &&
              cp target/*.json /dbt-artifacts/
            volumeMounts:
            - name: dbt-project
              mountPath: /usr/app/dbt
            - name: dbt-artifacts
              mountPath: /dbt-artifacts
          volumes:
          - name: dbt-project
            configMap:
              name: dbt-project-config
          - name: dbt-artifacts
            persistentVolumeClaim:
              claimName: dbt-artifacts
          restartPolicy: OnFailure

3. Mount volume in OpenMetadata deployment:

# collate-deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: collate
  namespace: data-platform
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: collate
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: collate
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: collate
        image: openmetadata/server:latest
        ports:
        - containerPort: 8585
        volumeMounts:
        - name: dbt-artifacts
          mountPath: /dbt-artifacts
          readOnly: true  # OpenMetadata only reads
      volumes:
      - name: dbt-artifacts
        persistentVolumeClaim:
          claimName: dbt-artifacts

Configure OpenMetadata:

Manifest: /dbt-artifacts/manifest.json
Catalog: /dbt-artifacts/catalog.json
Run Results: /dbt-artifacts/run_results.json

Option D: NFS Mounted Shared Storage

For VMs or bare-metal servers with shared NFS storage. 1. Set up NFS share: On NFS server:

# Install NFS server
sudo apt install -y nfs-kernel-server

# Create shared directory
sudo mkdir -p /export/dbt-artifacts
sudo chmod 777 /export/dbt-artifacts

# Configure exports
echo "/export/dbt-artifacts *(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash)" | \
    sudo tee -a /etc/exports

# Restart NFS
sudo systemctl restart nfs-kernel-server

2. Mount on client machines: On dbt server:

sudo apt install -y nfs-common
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/dbt-artifacts
sudo mount nfs-server:/export/dbt-artifacts /mnt/dbt-artifacts

# Make permanent
echo "nfs-server:/export/dbt-artifacts /mnt/dbt-artifacts nfs defaults 0 0" | \
    sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

On OpenMetadata server:

sudo apt install -y nfs-common
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/dbt-artifacts
sudo mount nfs-server:/export/dbt-artifacts /mnt/dbt-artifacts

# Make permanent
echo "nfs-server:/export/dbt-artifacts /mnt/dbt-artifacts nfs defaults 0 0" | \
    sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

3. Configure dbt to write to NFS:

cd /path/to/dbt/project
dbt run && dbt test && dbt docs generate
cp target/*.json /mnt/dbt-artifacts/

Configure OpenMetadata:

Manifest: /mnt/dbt-artifacts/manifest.json
Catalog: /mnt/dbt-artifacts/catalog.json
Run Results: /mnt/dbt-artifacts/run_results.json

Step 2: Configure OpenMetadata

Configuration

Go to Settings → Services → Database Services
Click on your database service
Go to the Ingestion tab
Click Add Ingestion
Select dbt from the dropdown

Configure dbt Source (Local):

Field	Value	Notes
dbt Configuration Source	`Local`	Select from dropdown
dbt Catalog File Path	`/dbt-artifacts/catalog.json`	Absolute path accessible by OpenMetadata
dbt Manifest File Path	`/dbt-artifacts/manifest.json`	Absolute path accessible by OpenMetadata
dbt Run Results File Path	`/dbt-artifacts/run_results.json`	Optional - absolute path

Configure dbt Options:

Field	Recommended Value
Update Descriptions	`Enabled`
Update Owners	`Enabled`
Include Tags	`Enabled`
Classification Name	`dbtTags`

Verification

# Verify artifacts exist and are readable
ls -la /dbt-artifacts/
cat /dbt-artifacts/manifest.json | jq '.metadata.dbt_version'

# Check from OpenMetadata's perspective (if in Docker)
docker exec collate-container ls -la /dbt-artifacts/
docker exec collate-container cat /dbt-artifacts/manifest.json | jq '.'

Best Practices

1. Use Absolute Paths

Always use absolute paths, not relative:

✓ /dbt-artifacts/manifest.json
✗ ../dbt/target/manifest.json

2. Ensure Read Permissions

# Set correct permissions
chmod 644 /dbt-artifacts/*.json
chown collate-user:collate-group /dbt-artifacts/*.json

3. Automate Artifact Copying

# Add to dbt wrapper script
dbt run && dbt test && dbt docs generate
cp target/*.json /dbt-artifacts/

4. Use ReadWriteMany for Kubernetes

For Kubernetes PVC, ensure accessMode: ReadWriteMany:

Works: NFS, EFS, Azure Files, GlusterFS
Doesn’t work: EBS (ReadWriteOnce only)

Troubleshooting

Issue	Symptom	Solution
File not found	”No such file or directory”	Verify absolute path is correct and accessible from OpenMetadata
Permission denied	”Permission denied”	Run `chmod 644 /dbt-artifacts/*.json`
Stale data	Old metadata showing	Ensure dbt writes artifacts before OpenMetadata reads
Mount issue	”Transport endpoint not connected”	Check NFS mount: `mount	grep dbt-artifacts`
Volume not shared	Works for dbt, not OpenMetadata	Verify both containers/pods mount the same volume

No built-in versioning or backup
File locking issues possible with concurrent access
Requires shared filesystem infrastructure

For production, consider:

S3 Storage for AWS
GCS Storage for GCP
Azure Blob Storage for Azure

Next Steps

See other storage options: S3 | GCS | Azure | HTTP | dbt Cloud

Connectors

Connector

Connector Ingestion

dbt Artifact Storage - Local Filesystem Configuration | OpenMetadata

dbt Artifact Storage: Local/Shared Filesystem

Prerequisites Checklist

Configuration Options

Option A: Same Machine (Development)

Option B: Docker Compose with Shared Volume

Option C: Kubernetes with PersistentVolumeClaim

Option D: NFS Mounted Shared Storage

Step 2: Configure OpenMetadata

Configuration

Verification

Best Practices

1. Use Absolute Paths

2. Ensure Read Permissions

3. Automate Artifact Copying

4. Use ReadWriteMany for Kubernetes

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

​dbt Artifact Storage: Local/Shared Filesystem

​Prerequisites Checklist

​Configuration Options

​Option A: Same Machine (Development)

​Option B: Docker Compose with Shared Volume

​Option C: Kubernetes with PersistentVolumeClaim

​Option D: NFS Mounted Shared Storage

​Step 2: Configure OpenMetadata

​Configuration

​Verification

​Best Practices

​1. Use Absolute Paths

​2. Ensure Read Permissions

​3. Automate Artifact Copying

​4. Use ReadWriteMany for Kubernetes

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps

dbt Artifact Storage: Local/Shared Filesystem

Prerequisites Checklist

Configuration Options

Option A: Same Machine (Development)

Option B: Docker Compose with Shared Volume

Option C: Kubernetes with PersistentVolumeClaim

Option D: NFS Mounted Shared Storage

Step 2: Configure OpenMetadata

Configuration

Verification

Best Practices

1. Use Absolute Paths

2. Ensure Read Permissions

3. Automate Artifact Copying

4. Use ReadWriteMany for Kubernetes

Troubleshooting

Next Steps