How Catalog and Lineage Work

This page explains how the catalog and lineage work together: how assets are organized, how lineage is built, and how you use the catalog for discovery and governance.

Asset Organization

Assets are organized by type (warehouse, source, destination, BI, dbt) and by hierarchy (e.g. warehouse → database → schema → table). The asset tree on the catalog homepage reflects this. Each asset has a name (user-defined), optional description, owners, and tags. Assets can be active or inactive. Metadata (e.g. schema, columns) is extracted from the connected system; for warehouses, usage and lineage are built from that metadata and from Matia integrations and dbt.

How Lineage Is Built

Lineage shows how data flows between assets. Matia builds lineage from:

• Warehouse metadata: Tables, schemas, and dependencies exposed by the warehouse.
• Matia integrations: ETL integrations (source → warehouse) and reverse ETL integrations (warehouse → destination) appear as nodes in the graph. Data flow is inferred from which tables are synced.
• dbt: When dbt Core or dbt Cloud is connected, Matia parses SQL and builds lineage between warehouse tables and dbt models.
• BI layer: Where supported, lineage extends to BI assets (e.g. Tableau, Metabase) so you can see which tables or columns feed which reports or dashboards.

The Lineage tab on a table shows that table as the home node; you navigate upstream and downstream to see sources, transformations, and consumers. Nodes are clickable - a click on an information icon opens a sidebar with details (metadata, integrations, dbt model SQL).

Discovery and Governance

• Search and browse: Use the asset tree and search to find tables, schemas, or databases. Filter by tag or owner when available.
• Metadata: Overview tab and sidebar show description, owners, tags, freshness, row count, monitors, and certificates. Usage tab (for supported warehouses) shows top users and query stats.
• Certificates: Mark assets as Verified, Draft, or Deprecated with an optional message so the team knows trust and lifecycle at a glance.
• Announcements: Attach Information, Warning, or Issue messages to an asset; optionally send to a notification channel. Announcements persist on the asset page.

One fact about an asset lives in one place; reference pages (asset types, lineage, certificates) are the canonical definitions. See Asset types, Lineage, and Certificates and announcements.