> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mage.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# dbt variable interpolation

## Overview

Mage allows users to reference variables specific to your
[pipeline](/getting-started/runtime-variable) or
[project](/development/variables/environment-variables).
These variables are accessible throughout your dbt profiles, and pipelines by using the following syntax.

| Syntax                   | Description                                | Example                             |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------- |
| `{{ env_var('...') }}`   | Get from environment variables.            | `{{ env_var('ENV') }}`              |
| `{{ variables('...') }}` | Get from runtime variables (used in YAML). | `{{ variables('execution_date') }}` |
| `{{ var('...') }}`       | Get from runtime variables (used in SQL).  | `{{ var('execution_date') }}`       |

DBT also comes with variable and environment variable support. By default we forward
[pipeline](/getting-started/runtime-variable)
variables as dbt [Project variables](https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/build/project-variables).

## Variable interpolation examples

### dbt models

```sql theme={"system"}
  SELECT
    *
  # get the global environment variable for prod/dev
  FROM {{ env_var('ENV') }}_users.accounts
  WHERE
    # limit query based on the runtime variable, execution_date
    created_at BETWEEN '2023-01-01' AND {{ var('execution_date') }}
```

### dbt profiles

```yaml theme={"system"}
jaffle_shop:
  target: dev
  outputs:
    dev:
      type: postgres
      host: host.docker.internal
      user: postgres
      password: postgres
      port: 5432
      dbname: postgres
      schema: {{ variables('DBT_SCHEMA') }}
      threads: 4
```

### dbt targets

![dbt target](https://mage-ai.github.io/assets/connection-profiles/dbt-target.png)

Here, we've used a manually entered target to specify a postgres database dependent on the environment `postgres_{{ env_var('ENV') }}`.

| Environment | Key   | Example string                  | Result          |
| ----------- | ----- | ------------------------------- | --------------- |
| `prod`      | `ENV` | `postgres_{{ env_var('ENV') }}` | `postgres_prod` |
| `dev`       | `ENV` | `postgres_{{ env_var('ENV') }}` | `postgres_dev`  |