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Connect dbt to Cursor

Give Cursor governed access to dbt’s 42 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.

Book a demo Cursor setup guide

Set up

Add dbt to Cursor in four steps

Admins approve the server once. Everyone in Cursor then gets it through the same governed connection.

  1. 1

    Approve dbt in Runlayer

    Add dbt from the catalog and choose who can use it and which of its tools are allowed.

  2. 2

    Connect Cursor to Runlayer

    Runlayer’s CLI installs the Runlayer Plugin natively in Cursor, and admins can roll it out org-wide with Auto Sync plus a Cursor team rule. With direct tool listing turned on for your deployment, dbt’s 42 tools show up in Cursor’s own tool list.

    Cursor setup guide
  3. 3

    Sign in to dbt

    Sign in the way dbt requires. Runlayer holds the credentials so they stay out of the client’s configuration.

  4. 4

    Use dbt from Cursor

    dbt’s approved tools appear in Cursor. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.

Tools

42 dbt tools in Cursor

Runlayer policy decides which of these Cursor users can call.

  • Cancel job run

    Cancel a currently running or queued dbt run.

  • Get all macros

    Get the name, description, and package name of all dbt macros in the environment.

  • Get all models

    Get the name and description of all dbt models in the environment.

  • Get all sources

    Get the name, description, and metadata of all dbt sources in the environment.

  • Get dimension values

    Get the distinct values for a given dimension, optionally scoped to specific metrics.

  • Get dimensions

    Get the dimensions for specified metrics

  • Get entities

    Get the entities for specified metrics

  • Get exposure details

    DEPRECATED — use get_node_details instead.

See all 42 dbt tools

Control

What Runlayer can see and stop in Cursor

Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what Cursor exposes to Runlayer.

  • Gateway policy (available)

    Every dbt call from Cursor passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.

  • Audit trail (available)

    Each call is recorded with the user, Cursor as the client, the tool, and the policy and scanner decisions.

  • Client hooks (available)

    Capture supported prompts, reasoning, local and MCP tool calls, responses, and scanner decisions in real time.

  • Stop a call before it runs (available)

    Runlayer can deny a tool call before Cursor runs it, including calls to MCP servers.

  • Block output after it runs (available)

    Runlayer can block a tool’s output before Cursor’s model sees it.

  • Redact output in place (not available)

    Cursor cannot take masked output, so Runlayer can block a tool’s output but not mask it. The gateway still applies policy to the call.

In Cursor

  • Runlayer cannot tell Agents Window sessions apart from regular IDE sessions.
  • The Cursor CLI sends fewer session events than the IDE, but Runlayer’s allow and deny decisions still apply.

Frequently asked questions

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