The #1 Open Source AI Data Catalog

Enterprise-grade metadata platform enabling discovery, governance, and observability across your entire data ecosystem

Free Cloud Trial • Quick Start • Live Demo • Documentation • Slack Community • YouTube

Built with ❤️ by DataHub and LinkedIn

Search, discover, and understand your data with DataHub's unified metadata platform

📊 NEW: Open Source Analytics Agent

Ask data questions in plain English — get SQL, results, and charts back

Open-source agent grounded in your DataHub catalog. Apache 2.0. Bring your own LLM.

Quick start:

git clone https://github.com/datahub-project/analytics-agent.git
cd analytics-agent && bash quickstart.sh

Read the announcement → · Docs → · Repo →

Using AI coding assistants? Connect Cursor, Claude Desktop, or Cline directly to DataHub via the Model Context Protocol: npx -y @acryldata/mcp-server-datahub init

What is DataHub?

🔍 Finding the right DataHub? This is the open-source metadata platform at datahub.com (GitHub: datahub-project/datahub). It was previously hosted at datahubproject.io, which now redirects to datahub.com. This project is not related to datahub.io, which is a separate public dataset hosting service. See the FAQ below.

DataHub is the #1 open-source AI data catalog that enables discovery, governance, and observability across your entire data ecosystem. Originally built at LinkedIn, DataHub now powers data discovery at thousands of organizations worldwide, managing millions of data assets.

The Challenge: Modern data stacks are fragmented across dozens of tools—warehouses, lakes, BI platforms, ML systems, AI agents, orchestration engines. Finding the right data, understanding its lineage, and ensuring governance is like searching through a maze blindfolded.

The DataHub Solution: DataHub acts as the central nervous system for your data stack—connecting all your tools through real-time streaming or batch ingestion to create a unified metadata graph. Unlike static catalogs, DataHub keeps your metadata fresh and actionable—powering both human teams and AI agents.

Why DataHub?

• 🚀 Battle-Tested at Scale: Born at LinkedIn to handle hyperscale data, now proven at thousands of organizations worldwide managing millions of data assets
• ⚡ Real-Time Streaming: Metadata updates in seconds, not hours or days
• 🤖 AI-Ready: Native support for AI agents via MCP, LLM integrations, and context management
• 🔌 Pioneering Ingestion Architecture: Flexible push/pull framework (widely adopted by other catalogs) with 80+ production-grade connectors extracting deep metadata—column lineage, usage stats, profiling, and quality metrics
• 👨‍💻 Developer-First: Rich APIs (GraphQL, OpenAPI), Python + Java SDKs, CLI tools
• 🏢 Enterprise Ready: Battle-tested security, authentication, authorization, and audit trails
• 🌍 Open Source: Apache 2.0 licensed, vendor-neutral, community-driven

🧠 The Context Foundation

Essential for modern data teams and reliable AI agents:

• Context Management Is the Missing Piece in the Agentic AI Puzzle - Why context management is essential for deploying reliable AI agents at scale
• Data Lineage: What It Is and Why It Matters - Understanding the map of how data flows through your organization
• What is Metadata Management? - A comprehensive guide for enterprise data leaders

📑 Table of Contents

• FAQ
• See DataHub in Action
• Quick Start
• Installation Options
• Architecture
• Use Cases & Examples
• Trusted By
• Ecosystem
• Community
• Contributing
• Resources
• License

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

# macOS / Linux (simplest)
brew install datahub-project/tap/datahub

# Or via pip (any platform)
pip install acryl-datahub

datahub docker quickstart

🎨 See DataHub in Action

🔍 Universal Search Find any data asset instantly across your entire stack	📊 Column-Level Lineage Trace data flow from source to consumption
📋 Rich Dataset Profiles Schema, statistics, documentation, and ownership	🏛️ Governance Dashboard Manage policies, tags, and compliance

▶️ Watch DataHub in Action:

• YouTube Channel (YouTube)
• Try Live Demo (No installation required)

🚀 Quick Start

Option 1: Try the Hosted Demo (Fastest)

No installation required. Explore a fully-loaded DataHub instance with sample data instantly:

🌐 Launch Live Demo: demo.datahub.com

Option 2: Run Locally (Recommended)

Get DataHub running on your machine in under 2 minutes.

Prerequisites: Docker Desktop with 8GB+ RAM allocated.

Install the DataHub CLI using either Homebrew (macOS / Linux) or pip:

# Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
brew install datahub-project/tap/datahub

# Or pip (any platform)
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip wheel setuptools
python3 -m pip install --upgrade acryl-datahub

Then launch DataHub locally via Docker:

datahub docker quickstart

# Access DataHub at http://localhost:9002
# Default credentials: datahub / datahub

Note: For pip, you can also use uv or other Python package managers.

What's included:

• ✅ Full Stack: GMS backend, React UI, Elasticsearch, MySQL, and Kafka.
• ✅ Sample Data: Pre-loaded datasets, lineage, and owners for exploration.
• ✅ Ingestion Ready: Fully prepared to connect your own local or cloud data sources.

Option 3: Run from Source (For Contributors)

Best for advanced users who want to modify the core codebase or run directly from the repository:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/datahub-project/datahub.git
cd datahub

# One-time setup (Python CLI + dev tooling)
scripts/dev/datahub-dev.sh setup

# Start DataHub (Gradle profiles under docker/profiles)
scripts/dev/datahub-dev.sh start

# Access DataHub at http://localhost:9002
# Default credentials: datahub / datahub

Next Steps

• 🔌 Connect Your Data: Explore our Ingestion Guides for Snowflake, BigQuery, dbt, and more.
• 📚 Learn the Basics: Walk through the Getting Started Guide
• 🎓 DataHub Academy: Deep dive with our Advanced Tutorials

📦 Installation Options

DataHub supports three deployment models:

• Managed SaaS (DataHub Cloud) — zero infrastructure, SLA-backed, enterprise-ready
• Self-hosted via Docker — ideal for development and small teams
• Kubernetes (Helm) — recommended for production self-hosted deployments

→ See all deployment guides (AWS, Azure, GCP, environment variables)

🏗️ Architecture Overview

• ✅ Streaming-First: Real-time metadata updates via Kafka
• ✅ API-First: All features accessible via APIs
• ✅ Extensible: Plugin architecture for custom entity types
• ✅ Scalable: Proven to 10M+ assets and O(1B) relationships at LinkedIn and other companies in production
• ✅ Cloud-Native: Designed for Kubernetes deployment

→ Full architecture breakdown: components, storage layer, APIs, and design decisions

💻 Use Cases & Examples

# snowflake_recipe.yml
source:
  type: snowflake
  config:
    # Connection details
    account_id: "xy12345.us-east-1"
    warehouse: "COMPUTE_WH"
    username: "${SNOWFLAKE_USER}"
    password: "${SNOWFLAKE_PASSWORD}"

    # Optional: Filter specific databases
    database_pattern:
      allow:
        - "ANALYTICS_DB"
        - "MARKETING_DB"

sink:
  type: datahub-rest
  config:
    server: "http://localhost:8080"

# Run ingestion
datahub ingest -c snowflake_recipe.yml

# Expected output:
# ✓ Connecting to Snowflake...
# ✓ Discovered 150 tables in ANALYTICS_DB
# ✓ Discovered 75 tables in MARKETING_DB
# ✓ Ingesting metadata...
# ✓ Successfully ingested 225 datasets to DataHub

from datahub.ingestion.graph.client import DatahubClientConfig, DataHubGraph

# Initialize DataHub client
config = DatahubClientConfig(server="http://localhost:8080")
graph = DataHubGraph(config)

# Search for datasets containing "customer"
urns = graph.get_urns_by_filter(
    entity_types=["dataset"],
    query="customer",
)

for urn in urns:
    print(f"Found: {urn}")

# Example output:
# Found: urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,analytics.customer_profiles,PROD)
# Found: urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:bigquery,marketing.customer_segments,PROD)

query GetLineage {
  dataset(
    urn: "urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,analytics.customer_profiles,PROD)"
  ) {
    # Get upstream dependencies (source tables)
    upstream: lineage(input: { direction: UPSTREAM }) {
      entities {
        urn
        ... on Dataset {
          name
          platform {
            name
          }
        }
      }
    }

    # Get downstream dependencies (consuming tables/dashboards)
    downstream: lineage(input: { direction: DOWNSTREAM }) {
      entities {
        urn
        type
        ... on Dataset {
          name
          platform {
            name
          }
        }
        ... on Dashboard {
          dashboardId
          tool
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/graphql \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "query GetLineage { ... }"}'

from datahub.metadata.schema_classes import DatasetPropertiesClass
from datahub.emitter.mce_builder import make_dataset_urn
from datahub.emitter.rest_emitter import DatahubRestEmitter

# Create emitter to send metadata to DataHub
emitter = DatahubRestEmitter("http://localhost:8080")

# Create dataset URN (unique identifier)
dataset_urn = make_dataset_urn(
    platform="snowflake",
    name="analytics.customer_profiles",
    env="PROD"
)

# Define dataset properties
properties = DatasetPropertiesClass(
    description="""
    Customer profiles aggregated from CRM and transaction data.

    **Update Schedule:** Updated nightly via Airflow DAG `customer_profile_etl`
    **Data Retention:** 7 years for compliance
    **Owner:** Data Platform Team
    """,
    customProperties={
        "owner_team": "data-platform",
        "update_frequency": "daily",
        "data_sensitivity": "PII",
        "upstream_dag": "customer_profile_etl",
        "business_domain": "customer_analytics"
    }
)

# Emit metadata to DataHub
emitter.emit_mcp(
    entityUrn=dataset_urn,
    aspectName="datasetProperties",
    aspect=properties
)

print(f"✓ Successfully updated documentation for {dataset_urn}")

# Initialize MCP server for DataHub
npx -y @acryldata/mcp-server-datahub init

# Follow the interactive prompts to configure:
# - DataHub GMS endpoint (e.g., http://localhost:8080)
# - Authentication token (if required)
# - MCP server settings

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "datahub": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@acryldata/mcp-server-datahub"]
    }
  }
}

You: "What datasets are owned by the data-platform team?"

AI: Based on DataHub metadata, here are the datasets owned by data-platform:
- urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,analytics.customer_profiles,PROD)
  Name: customer_profiles
  Platform: Snowflake
  Description: Aggregated customer data from CRM and transactions

- urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:bigquery,marketing.campaign_performance,PROD)
  Name: campaign_performance
  Platform: BigQuery
  Description: Marketing campaign metrics and ROI tracking

[... more results]

Common Use Cases

📝 DataHub in Action

Learn from teams using DataHub in production and get practical guidance:

→ Explore all posts on our blog

🏢 Trusted by Industry Leaders

3,000+ organizations run DataHub in production worldwide — across both open-source deployments and DataHub Cloud — from hyperscale tech companies to regulated financial institutions and healthcare providers.

By Industry

🛒 E-Commerce & Retail: Etsy • Experius • Klarna • LinkedIn • MediaMarkt Saturn • Uphold • Wealthsimple • Wolt

🏥 Healthcare & Life Sciences: CVS Health • IOMED • Optum

✈️ Travel & Transportation: Cabify • DFDS • Expedia Group • Hurb • Peloton • Viasat

📚 Education & EdTech: ClassDojo • Coursera • Udemy

💰 Financial Services: Banksalad • Block • Chime • FIS • Funding Circle • GEICO • Inter&Co • N26 • Santander • Shanghai HuaRui Bank • Stash • Visa

🎮 Gaming, Entertainment & Streaming: Netflix • Razer • Showroomprive • TypeForm • UKEN Games • Zynga

🚀 Technology & SaaS: Adevinta • Apple • Digital Turbine • DPG Media • Foursquare • Geotab • HashiCorp • hipages • inovex • KPN • Miro • MYOB • Notion • Okta • Rippling • Saxo Bank • Slack • ThoughtWorks • Twilio • Wikimedia • WP Engine

📊 Data & Analytics: ABLY • DefinedCrowd • Grofers • Haibo Technology • Moloco • PITS Global Data Recovery Services • SpotHero

And thousands more across DataHub Core and DataHub Cloud.

Featured Case Studies

• 📰 Optum: Data Mesh via DataHub
• 🏦 Saxo Bank: Enabling Data Discovery in Data Mesh
• 🚗 SpotHero: Data Discoverability at Scale

Using DataHub? Please feel free to add your organization to the list if we missed it — open a PR or let us know on Slack.

🌐 DataHub Ecosystem

DataHub is part of a rich ecosystem of tools and integrations.

Official Repositories

Community Plugins & Integrations

Integrations by Category

📊 BI & Analytics: Tableau • Looker • Power BI • Superset • Metabase • Mode • Redash

🗄️ Data Warehouses: Snowflake • BigQuery • Redshift • Databricks • Synapse • ClickHouse

🔄 Data Orchestration: Airflow • dbt • Dagster • Prefect • Luigi

🤖 ML Platforms: SageMaker • MLflow • Feast • Kubeflow • Weights & Biases

🔗 Data Integration: Fivetran • Airbyte • Stitch • Matillion

View all 80+ integrations →

💬 Community & Support

Join thousands of data practitioners building with DataHub!

🗓️ Town Halls

Monthly community calls with roadmap updates, live demos, and user case studies.

• 🎟️ Register for the next Town Hall
• 📺 Watch past recordings

💬 Get Help & Connect

📧 Stay Updated

• 📝 Read the Blog - Deep dives and case studies
• 📖 Monthly Release Notes - What's new

🎓 Learning Resources

• DataHub Quickstart - Get started in 15 minutes
• API Documentation - GraphQL & REST API reference
• Architecture Guide - Deep dive into internals
• Video Tutorials - Step-by-step guides

🤝 Contributing

We ❤️ contributions from the community! See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, guidelines, and ways to get involved.

Browse Good First Issues to get started!

📚 Resources & Learning

📰 Featured Content

Blog Posts & Articles:

• DataHub: Popular Metadata Architectures Explained - LinkedIn Engineering
• Open Sourcing DataHub - LinkedIn Engineering
• Enabling Data Discovery in Data Mesh - Saxo Bank
• Data Discoverability at SpotHero - SpotHero
• Emerging Architectures for Modern Data Infrastructure - a16z

Conference Talks:

• The Evolution of Metadata: LinkedIn's Journey - Strata 2019
• Driving DataOps Culture with DataHub - DataOps Unleashed 2021
• Journey of Metadata at LinkedIn - Crunch Conference 2019
• DataHub Journey with Expedia Group - Expedia

Podcasts:

• Bringing The Power Of The Real-Time Metadata Graph To Everyone - Data Engineering Podcast

🔗 Important Links

📄 License

DataHub is open source software released under the Apache License 2.0.

Copyright 2015-2026 LinkedIn Corporation
Copyright 2025-Present DataHub Project Contributors

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.

What this means:

• ✅ Commercial use allowed
• ✅ Modification allowed
• ✅ Distribution allowed
• ✅ Patent use allowed
• ✅ Private use allowed

Learn more: Choose a License - Apache 2.0

⭐ If you find DataHub useful, please star the repository! ⭐

Made with ❤️ by the DataHub community