# Getting started
## Before You Begin
**Time Required:** 30-60 minutes\
**Prerequisites:** Access to your data source (database, warehouse, etc.)
### What You'll Accomplish:
✅ Connect your first data source\
✅ View your data assets in the catalog\
✅ Set up basic data quality monitoring\
✅ Configure alert notifications
### What You'll Need:
* [ ] Credentials with the right permissions for your data source
* [ ] Network access permissions (if behind VPN/firewall)
* [ ] Email/Slack for notifications (optional)
{% hint style="info" %}
Make sure you're using the Decube login URL for your region (APAC, EU, or US).
{% endhint %}
### Role-Specific Guidance:
* **👨💻 Data Engineers:** Follow the technical setup steps and configuration guides
* **🛡️ Governance Teams:** Use this guide to understand what to request from your technical team and what outcomes to expect
* **👤 Admins:** Focus on user management and access control sections
## Quick Start: See Decube in Action
### 1. Login to Decube
Enter your credentials and click Login. You'll then be signed in and directed to Decube's landing page.
Sign-in page
{% hint style="info" %}
To reset your password, click Forgot Password on the login page and follow the instructions in the email you receive. If you don't see the email, please contact us at .
{% endhint %}
Forgot your password
### 2. Connect Your Data Source (10-15 minutes)
**Why this matters:** This is the foundation - without a data source, Decube has nothing to monitor or catalog.
**👨💻 For Data Engineers:** Follow the technical setup guides below\
**🛡️ For Governance Teams:** Share these links with your technical team and ensure they have the necessary credentials
Connecting your first data source when you start with an account is compulsory. Each data source may have different prerequisites or configurations to be made; so we've prepared a guide on [**How to connect data sources**](/overview/getting-started/how-to-connect-data-sources.md) for each data source that you'd like to add.
Onboarding your data source with no code
Connection to your data source should take a few minutes depending on the volume of your data. Once your data source has been connected, you can then navigate to the **Catalog** module.
✅ **Success indicator:** You see tables appearing in the Catalog module
### 3. Explore Your Data Catalog (5 minutes)
**Why this matters:** Verify your data is being ingested and cataloged correctly.
Navigate to **Catalog** → Browse your connected tables and schemas
**🛡️ For Governance Teams:** This is where you'll see all your data assets organized and searchable. You can add business context, classifications, and glossary terms here.
✅ **Success indicator:** You can see your database tables, schemas, and basic metadata
## Complete Setup: Configure Monitoring & Alerts
### 4. Enable Data Quality Monitoring (10-15 minutes)
**Why this matters:** Proactive monitoring prevents data issues from impacting downstream systems and AI/ML models.
Navigate to **Data Quality** → **Config** → Enable monitors for critical tables
**Quick Setup Options:**
* **Freshness Monitoring:** Detect when data stops updating
* **Volume Monitoring:** Catch unusual data volume changes
* **Schema Drift:** Alert on table structure changes
**👨💻 For Data Engineers:** Configure custom SQL monitors and set appropriate thresholds\
**🛡️ For Governance Teams:** Focus on business-critical tables and data lineage impact
[Detailed monitor setup guide →](/data-quality/enable-asset-monitoring.md)
✅ **Success indicator:** You see monitors active on your critical tables
### 5. Configure Alert Notifications (5-10 minutes)
**Why this matters:** Get notified immediately when data issues occur, enabling faster response times.
Navigate to **My Account** → **Config Settings** tab → Set up alert channels
**Alert Options:**
* **Email notifications:** Direct alerts to your inbox
* **Slack integration:** Team channel notifications
* **Microsoft Teams:** Collaborate on incident resolution
* **Webhook endpoints:** Custom integrations
**👤 For Admins:** Set up organization-wide notification policies\
**🛡️ For Governance Teams:** Ensure stakeholders are notified of data quality issues
[Alert setup guide →](/alert-notifications/notification-alerts.md)
Add your alert channels in the Config Settings
✅ **Success indicator:** You receive a test notification
### 6. Set Up User Access (10 minutes)
**Why this matters:** Ensure your team can access relevant data while maintaining security and compliance.
Navigate to **My Account** → **User Management**
**👤 For Admins:**
* Invite team members with appropriate roles
* Configure group-based access policies
* Set up data source permissions
**🛡️ For Governance Teams:**
* Define data classification policies
* Set up approval workflows for sensitive data access
* Configure glossary terms and business context
[User management guide →](/manage-access/user-management.md)\
[Group access controls →](/group-access-policies/groups-management-overview.md)
✅ **Success indicator:** Team members can log in and see appropriate data
## Congratulations! You're Set Up
### What Happens Next:
* **First 3 days:** Decube analyzes your data patterns and establishes baselines. ML models learn your data behavior for accurate anomaly detection.
* **Ongoing:** Receive proactive alerts for any data quality issues
### Explore Additional Features:
**Data Discovery & Catalog:**
{% content-ref url="/pages/ceSNi4efmZaeCMwDsgwA" %}
[Overview of Asset Types](/catalog/overview-of-asset-types.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}
**Business Glossary & Governance:**
{% content-ref url="/pages/avKaKeCbdL7lyZgUZ0cN" %}
[Glossary, Category and Terms](/glossary/glossary-category-and-terms.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}
**Bulk Metadata Management:** Use Export/Import to quickly update your Catalog metadata and Glossary terms in bulk through CSV workflows. Perfect for large-scale onboarding and governance updates.
{% content-ref url="/pages/y9ah9lgv3RE1udeSYB55" %}
[Export/Import Overview](/export-import/export-import-overview.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}
**Advanced Data Quality:**
{% content-ref url="/pages/3SHtVpZ9FTA4QhLxNp6E" %}
[Incidents Overview](/data-quality/data-quality.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}
**Public API (BETA):** For technical users: Integrate Decube with your existing tools and workflows using our REST API. Access data catalog, quality metrics, lineage, and user management programmatically.
{% content-ref url="/pages/UGzKctB56AdkVf37rgbd" %}
[Overview](/public-api/overview.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}
### Need Help?
If you encounter any issues during setup:
* **Email Support:**
* **Documentation:** Search our knowledge base
* **Community:** Join our user community for best practices
***
**Next Steps:** Once your data source is connected and monitoring is active, explore our advanced features like the Governance module, Collaboration features and granular access controls to build a comprehensive data trust platform.
---
# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.
Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:
```
GET https://docs.decube.io/overview/getting-started.md?ask=
```
The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.
Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.