Build the catalog
The catalog is the semantic shape the agent reads to answer questions about your Data Collection. Entities, relationships, metrics, and the descriptions that tie them to the tables and columns you selected. Run a build, review what we propose, then apply it.
Audience: builders
Queue a build
Open Setup → Catalog
The Catalog step is the third step on the Setup workflow. It only opens once you have at least one attached source and a saved selection.
Add Notes for this run (optional)
Use the Notes for this run disclosure to give our AI guidance just for this build. Vendor naming quirks, tables to skip, anything you have learned since the last build. For lasting guidance the agent should read every time, use Business context on Selection instead.
Click Build catalog
Our AI walks your selected tables and columns, reconciles the same thing across sources (vendor names, account codes, anything that shows up twice), and proposes a catalog of entities, relationships, and metrics. A run takes a few minutes. Nothing changes in the live catalog until you apply the proposal.
Watch the build
The Catalog step shows phase-by-phase progress: which section is running, which have succeeded, which is still pending. The Dashboard tab also shows a build banner with the same status, so you can leave the Setup step and check back later.
When the build succeeds, the platform navigates you to the Catalog tab so you can read the result. If you have already moved to a different tab, your navigation is respected and the auto-route is skipped.
Review before you ship. Builds produce a proposal, not a live change. The Catalog tab shows a pending proposal banner with Review proposal and Discard. Open the review, look at the entities and relationships our AI named, then apply or discard.
Read the catalog map
The Catalog tab leads with the Catalog map: nodes for entities, metrics, operations, recipes, and rules; edges for the relationships between them. The layout flows left to right and groups related items together. Click a node to inspect it. Click an edge to see the relationship.
The toolbar above the map gives you Zoom in, Zoom out, and Fit map for navigation. Show grounding toggles the raw source-to-catalog links so you can see which tables and columns back each entity.
Read coverage
Below the map, the Catalog coverage section reports how much of your selection the catalog actually uses. The lead line reads "N of M scoped tables are used by the catalog." For each table the catalog did not use, you have two choices on the row:
- Keep this table. Tell our AI what the table is. Your note is appended to Business context, and you re-run the build so the catalog picks it up.
- Drop from scope. The table was not really part of this collection. Removing it tightens the next build.
Coverage hides when everything is grounded. When every selected table is used by the catalog, the section disappears: there is nothing left to ask you about. It returns the moment you add tables that the next build cannot place.
Improve coverage between builds
A few moves consistently move ungrounded tables into the catalog on the next build:
- Add descriptions and synonyms. On the Selection step, give the tricky tables and columns the names your team uses. Catalog matching follows your vocabulary.
- Capture rules in Business context. "Vendor 'Acme Corp' and 'ACME, Inc.' are the same vendor." "Skip the staging tables." Lasting rules belong here.
- Drop the noise. Tables that are not really in scope only confuse the build. Drop them from selection.
- Rebuild. Changes do not land until you queue another build from Setup → Catalog.
Empty states
If you open the Catalog tab before any build has run, the page shows "No catalog yet" with a link back to Setup. If a build is in progress, it shows the in-flight message and updates as phases complete. If your selection is empty, Catalog coverage nudges you back to Sources and Selection.
Discard a draft proposal
A pending proposal does not have to land. Use Discard on the proposal banner to throw it away. Your live catalog stays exactly as it was, and you can queue a fresh build with new notes whenever you are ready.