dbt-labs/dbt-core · critical

Dremio

Error message

Dremio

What it means

A `todo!()` panic raised when `metadata_adapter` attempts to build a metadata adapter for the Dremio adapter type. The dispatch match in crates/dbt-adapter/src/adapter/adapter_impl.rs:318-323 leaves Dremio unimplemented, so hitting that arm panics with the message "Dremio". It is a compile-time placeholder that becomes a runtime abort when the Dremio path is exercised.

Source

Thrown at crates/dbt-adapter/src/adapter/adapter_impl.rs:322

                        DuckDB => {
                            Box::new(DuckDBMetadataAdapter::new(engine)) as Box<dyn MetadataAdapter>
                        }
                        LakeCompute => {
                            Box::new(DuckDBMetadataAdapter::new(engine)) as Box<dyn MetadataAdapter>
                        }
                        Fabric => {
                            Box::new(FabricMetadataAdapter::new(engine)) as Box<dyn MetadataAdapter>
                        }
                        ClickHouse => Box::new(ClickHouseMetadataAdapter::new(engine))
                            as Box<dyn MetadataAdapter>,
                        Exasol => {
                            Box::new(ExasolMetadataAdapter::new(engine)) as Box<dyn MetadataAdapter>
                        }
                        Starburst => todo!("Starburst"),
                        Athena => todo!("Athena"),
                        Trino => todo!("Trino"),
                        Datafusion => todo!("Datafusion"),
                        Dremio => todo!("Dremio"),
                        Oracle => todo!("Oracle"),
                    };
                Some(metadata_adapter)
            }
        }
    }

    /// Execute `use warehouse [name]` statement for Snowflake.
    /// For other warehouses, this is noop.
    /// Returns whether the connection changed and must be restored.
    pub fn use_warehouse(
        &self,
        conn: &'_ mut dyn Connection,
        warehouse: String,
        node_id: &str,
        token: CancellationToken,
    ) -> FsResult<bool> {
        match self.inner_adapter() {

View on GitHub (pinned to 0267ce9170)

Solutions

  1. Use a supported adapter type (Snowflake, Bigquery, Databricks, Redshift, Postgres, DuckDB, Fabric, ClickHouse, Exasol, etc.) until Dremio is implemented.
  2. Implement the Dremio arm: replace `Dremio => todo!("Dremio")` with a Dremio metadata adapter construction, e.g. `Box::new(DremioMetadataAdapter::new(engine)) as Box<dyn MetadataAdapter>`.
  3. Run in sidecar mode so metadata hydration is delegated to db_runner and this match is never reached.

Example fix

// before
Dremio => todo!("Dremio"),
// after
Dremio => Box::new(DremioMetadataAdapter::new(engine)) as Box<dyn MetadataAdapter>,
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

fn requires_unimplemented_arm(t: AdapterType) -> bool {
    matches!(t, AdapterType::Starburst | AdapterType::Athena | AdapterType::Trino
        | AdapterType::Datafusion | AdapterType::Dremio | AdapterType::Oracle)
}
// call before runs:
if requires_unimplemented_arm(adapter.adapter_type()) {
    return Err(format!("adapter {:?} is not yet supported", adapter.adapter_type()).into());
}

Type guard

fn is_dremio_unsupported(t: &AdapterType) -> bool {
    matches!(t, AdapterType::Dremio)
}

Try / catch

let result = std::panic::catch_unwind(std::panic::AssertUnwindSafe(|| adapter.metadata_adapter()));
match result {
    Err(_) => eprintln!("Dremio metadata adapter is not implemented; aborting gracefully"),
    Ok(v) => { /* proceed */ }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `metadata_adapter()` on a DbtAdapter whose adapter_type() is AdapterType::Dremio in non-sidecar, non-explicit-mock mode.

Common situations: Running dbt with a Dremio profile against this adapter before Dremio support exists; switching profiles or CI matrices to Dremio while the metadata layer is unfinished; generic adapter-type iteration in tooling.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of dbt-labs/dbt-core@0267ce9170 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/63e4bac5fca3b192. Report an issue: GitHub.