dbt Labs open sources dbt Charts to make AI-generated dashboards declarative, auditable, and governed

dbt Labs is open sourcing dbt Charts, a declarative language for building dashboards that can be generated through chat while remaining governed. The company argues that AI-created reports often sprawl into hard-to-audit code, while traditional BI copilots keep users constrained by existing UI limits.

The release points to a broader shift toward agent-native analytics, where dashboards are specified as structured, reviewable artifacts rather than opaque app code. If adopted, declarative chart definitions could help data teams balance self-serve speed with governance, version control, and auditability.