dbt Labs unveiled the new dbt Fusion engine, built on Rust and equipped with native SQL comprehension, introduces a faster developer experience that delivers productivity, data velocity, and platform intelligence to drive cost savings. dbt Labs also launched its VS Code extension, unlocking access to Fusion for local developers, and is introducing a free, source-available version of the Fusion engine with a subset of features. The dbt Fusion engine now powers the entire dbt platform, from the CLI, to dbt Orchestrator, Catalog, Studio, and other dbt products, and introduces SQL comprehension and many other capabilities. 

Fusion is now available for eligible dbt projects on Snowflake, with support for Databricks, BigQuery, and Redshift coming soon. dbt Labs is also introducing its VS Code extension to access the the Fusion engine while developing locally.

In conjunction with the rollout of the Fusion engine, VS Code extension and dbt MCP server, dbt Labs launched features designed to bring data analysts into the dbt workflow, including:

  • dbt Canvas, a visual editing experience enabling analysts less familiar with dbt or SQL to create new and edit existing dbt models.
  • dbt Insights, an AI-powered query interface that allows asking questions about their data models in SQL or natural language.

https://www.getdbt.com/blog/dbt-labs-redefines-dbt-with-new-fusion-engine