Syncing additional metadata from source (BETA)

Reduces manual export/import work and helps data governance teams maintain a single source of truth for asset descriptions by surfacing the descriptions already maintained in your data warehouse.

The Catalog automatically syncs descriptions from your data source tables, columns & schema from data sources directly into the Decube Catalog. This one-way sync (source → Decube) helps keep your cataloged assets aligned with the source-of-truth descriptions in your warehouse.

Decube give you a choice to select what you want to see in the catalog, while connecting the source you will get a option to select if you want to manage metadata descriptions in your data catalog either manually within the platform or by syncing them from the connected data source. This flexibility lets teams decide their preferred source of truth for descriptions, helping reduce confusion and ensure consistent documentation practices.

What this feature does

• Allows you to configure description mode at source connection level.

• Adds a single description field in the Catalog UI either:

  • Synced Description (read-only, from source), or

  • Description (editable, managed in Decube)

  • Applies to Schema, Table, and Column descriptions

  • This is a one-way sync: descriptions ingested from source into Decube. Changes made in Decube are not pushed back to the source.

Supported sources

• Snowflake

• Redshift

We’ll evaluate other sources based on demand.

Description Modes

Only one description field is shown in the UI at a time, based on the selected mode at source level.

When connecting to supported data sources, you can choose how descriptions should appear in the Catalog:

1. User-managed Descriptions

• Editable within Decube.

• Displayed as “Description” field in the catalog for column, tables, schemas.

• Supports inline editing and change requests.

• Used when you want to manage descriptions manually in Decube.

2. Synced Descriptions

• Pulled from the data source during metadata ingestion

• Displayed as “Synced Description” field in the catalog for column, tables, schemas.

• Synced descriptions are read-only in UI and user cannot update these descriptions in the UI manually.

• Reflects the current state in your source system

How to Configure Description Mode

This selection does not affect ingestion — both synced and user-managed descriptions are still stored in the backend. Only the UI and CSV export behavior changes.

You can configure the description mode when creating or modifying supported data sources: (refer supported sources)

• Navigate to My Account -> Integrations to connect or modify a Source form.

• Scroll to the section “Select which description should show in the catalog”

• Choose:

  • User-managed descriptions (selected by default)

  • Synced descriptions

• This configuration determines which description is shown for all asset types (schema, table, column) in the catalog.

• You can change the description mode at any time from the Modify Source form.

• The selected option is applied immediately after changing the mode.

  • The Catalog UI and Export/Import will switch to show only the newly selected description.

• You do not need to re-test or re-validate the connection to modify the setting.

• Descriptions not shown in the UI will still be stored in the Decube.

Behavior Across Features

Below table shows how feature behavior is updated according to description mode selection in source connection form.

Feature	User-managed	Synced
Catalog UI	Editable Description shown	Read-only Synced Description shown
Change Requests	Supported	Not Supported
CSV Export (for dataset)	only Description field exported	only Source Description field exported
CSV Import	Allowed	Not allowed (read-only)
API	Returns both fields

Where can you see these changes in the Catalog UI

• For Schema/Table description, you can navigate to Catalog -> Data Sources (Redshift & Snowflake) -> Asset details -> Asset Attributes modal.

• For Description (managed manually in decube) you can update it by clicking on make changes.

• Only one description will be displayed from Description (user managed) and Synced description at a time.

• For synced description you cannot edit the description as it is read-only, but by clicking on Make Changes you can update other attributes in the modal like owners etc.

• For Column description, you can navigate to Catalog -> Data Sources -> Asset details -> Schema Tab

• For Description (managed manually in decube) you can update it by clicking on make changes.

• Only one description column will be displayed from Description (user managed) and Synced description at a time.

• For synced description you cannot edit the description as it is read-only, but by clicking on Make Changes you can update other attributes in the schema tab like tags, classification etc.

CSV Export/Import Changes

• In CSV file description column will be included with below header:

  • User managed description: Description

  • Synced Description: Source Description

Before importing the CSV file into the platform, make sure to remove the Source Description column. Since this field is read-only, attempting to import it will result in an “Unknown attribute” error.

• Exported CSV will include description column as per the source config for description mode.

• To include both descriptions in the exported CSV, new checkbox is added Include both description and synced description, if this is checked both descriptions will be included in the dataset exported csv.

• You can update "Description" field (manually managed in decube) through export/import even when UI shows synced description. Values will be updated and stored and later if you modify your description mode from synced to user managed, you can see the updated description in the catalog.

• This configuration applies only to supported data sources.

API

• API will return both Description and Source Description for Schema, table and column. For more details you can refer to Asset API doc

Edge Case

Change requests created for description remain valid even if the source is later updated to show synced description. This is an edge case and will not be blocked.

Beta feedback: we want to hear from you

We’re continuing to improve how descriptions work in the Catalog, and your input can help shape what’s next.

We’d like to hear from you:

• Would you want the ability to push changes made in Decube back to the source system?

• Should users be able to edit or comment on Synced Descriptions, even if they are read-only?

• Do you find the new selection between user-managed and synced descriptions clear and helpful?

Send your thoughts and ideas to [email protected] — we’re listening!