Error: unknown command “init” for “dbt” and can't uninstall dbt-cloud-cli and install dbt-core instead

The problem I’m having

I am trying to uninstall dbt-cloud-cli after knowing that the
pip install dbt
installs the dbt-cloud not the dbt-core

The context of why I’m trying to do this

because whenever I try running
dbt init project-name
I got the error
Error: unknown command "init" for "dbt"
so I found someone with my case Error: unknown command "init" for "dbt"
that saying that I should uninstall dbt-cloud and install dbt-core instead

What I’ve already tried

I have tried to uninstall dbt-cloud and install dbt-core so that may solve the problem of not being able to initialize the project
I have followed what is written here Uninstall Dbt Core Guide — Restack which is running
pip uninstall dbt
but after that when I run
dbt --version
I still have
dbt Cloud CLI - 0.37.0

If anyone can help me I would be so grateful

I had the same issue. Initially a test version of Python was installed, and I had tried to install dbt using the same, and it failed to install in between throwing an error regarding inability to process certain packages.

Later, when I uninstalled the test version and installed the latest version of stable python, even before I could start installing dbt, I could see dbt cloud CLI installed. On more exploring found that there was residue during uninstallation. This can be identified by typing the below in your terminal :

where dbt

This would return path/s where it can find dbt installed. I removed the residue and retried installing dbt-core and other adapters, and voila! It worked. Hope this helps.

If you’re facing issues with the dbt installation (such as seeing dbt Cloud CLI instead of the correct version even after the command pip uninstall dbt ), here’s what worked for me:

  1. Manually delete any existing dbt executables:
    Use File Explorer to search for any dbt files (such as dbt.exe or similar) and delete them.
    This removes any remnants of the previous installation, like the dbt Cloud CLI version.
  2. Reinstall dbt
  • Run (pip install dbt-core) to reinstall the correct dbt core and any necessary plugins

i hope it helps!