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Collate MCP Tools Reference

Overview

This document provides detailed examples and usage patterns for all available Collate MCP tools. Each tool includes sample requests, responses, and common use cases.

Available Tools

Which Tool to Call First

If you already have a fully qualified name (from a prior result, a user-supplied FQN, or a UI deep link), start with get_entity_details directly. If you don’t, start with search_metadata or semantic_search first, then pass the fullyQualifiedName from a result into get_entity_details. Starting broad with search_metadata when you already know the FQN adds unnecessary round trips (re-searching, re-confirming the match) that calling the lookup tool directly avoids.

Fully Qualified Name (FQN) Format

An entity’s FQN is a dot-separated path built from the entity and its ancestors. The number of segments depends on entity type: Special Characters: If a name segment contains a period (.) or a double quote ("), wrap that segment in double quotes, escaping any internal " by doubling it. For example, a schema literally named sales.eu inside database prod becomes service.prod."sales.eu".table.

Discover

Search and find data assets across your catalog using keyword, semantic, or natural language queries.

search_metadata

Description: Find data assets and business terms in your Collate catalog. Use Cases:
  • Discover tables containing specific data
  • Find dashboards related to business areas
  • Search for glossary terms
  • Locate pipelines by name or description
Parameters
Omit queryFilter entirely rather than sending an empty string, "null", or "{}". A degenerate value is not treated as “no filter”: it currently produces a 400 JSON parsing failed error instead of falling through to a normal keyword search.
Entity Types
  • Service Entities: databaseService, messagingService, apiService, dashboardService, pipelineService, storageService, mlmodelService, metadataService, searchService
  • Data Asset Entities: apiCollection, apiEndpoint, table, storedProcedure, database, databaseSchema, dashboard, dashboardDataModel, pipeline, chart, topic, searchIndex, mlmodel, container
  • User Entities: user, team
  • Domain Entities: domain, dataProduct
  • Governance Entities: metric, glossary, glossaryTerm
Examples Basic Search:
Search for Specific Entity Type:
Search with Additional Fields:
Sample Response:
Description: Meaning-based discovery of data assets using vector embeddings. Use this for exploratory or vague queries where exact names are unknown — it finds conceptually related assets even when keywords don’t match. Parameters Examples Conceptual asset discovery:
Filtered semantic search:

search_company_context

Description: Semantic search over company context knowledge pills from the Context Center. Returns matching pills with their title, question, answer, summary, and source file. Use this to answer questions from company documents, runbooks, FAQs, and policies. Parameters Example
Description: Natural language query search across data assets. Interprets free-form questions and returns matching assets from the catalog. The index parameter accepts entity type names (e.g., table, dashboard) or the dataAsset alias for a broad cross-entity search. Parameters Example

Inspect

Retrieve detailed information about specific entities and company knowledge pills.

get_entity_details

Description: Retrieve detailed information about a specific entity using its fully qualified name. Parameters Examples Get Table Details:
Get Dashboard Details:
Sample Response:

get_company_context

Description: Fetch a single company context knowledge pill by its fully qualified name. Returns the full title, question, answer, summary, and source file. Use the fullyQualifiedName or name returned by search_company_context. Parameters Example

Lineage & Impact

Explore data dependencies, trace upstream sources, and analyze downstream impact.

get_entity_lineage

Description: Retrieve upstream and downstream lineage information for any entity to understand data dependencies and impact analysis. Parameters

create_lineage

Description: Create a lineage relationship between two data assets. Requires the entity IDs (UUIDs), which you can retrieve using get_entity_details or search_metadata. Parameters Example

root_cause_analysis

Description: Perform root cause analysis via data quality lineage. Identifies upstream failures causing issues on the specified asset, then analyzes downstream impact. If status is failed, check upstreamAnalysis for root causes and downstreamAnalysis for impact. Parameters Example

Knowledge

Create and manage glossaries, terms, articles, and reusable context memories.

create_glossary

Description: Create a new glossary to organize business terms and definitions. Parameters Examples Create Business Glossary:
Create Technical Glossary:
Sample Response:

create_glossary_term

Description: Create a new term within an existing glossary, with support for hierarchical relationships. Parameters Examples Create Root Level Term:
Create Child Term:
Sample Response:

create_context_memory

Description: Save a reusable piece of knowledge to the Context Center — a preference, instruction, runbook step, or FAQ answer the assistant should retain across conversations. Use this when the user explicitly asks you to remember, note, or store something. Parameters Example

create_article

Description: Create a new knowledge article in the Collate knowledge base. Articles can be nested under a parent page and support an approval workflow when reviewers are set. Valid entityStatus values are: Draft, In Review, Approved, Deprecated, Rejected, Unprocessed. Parameters Example

Govern & Classify

Define and apply classifications, tags, domains, data products, and entity updates.

create_classification

Description: Create a new Classification in Collate. A Classification is a top-level container that groups related Tags (e.g., PII, Tier). The name becomes the root segment of every tag FQN under it. The mutuallyExclusive flag is immutable once the classification exists. Parameters Example

create_tag

Description: Create a new Tag inside an existing Classification in Collate. The tag FQN is Classification.TagName (e.g., PII.Sensitive). At least one of classification or parent must be provided. Parameters Examples Create a top-level tag:
Create a nested tag:

create_domain

Description: Create a new Domain in Collate. A Domain is a top-level governance grouping of data assets. To create a child domain, set parent to the FQN of an existing parent domain. domainType defaults to Aggregate if omitted. Parameters Examples Create a top-level domain:
Create a child domain:

create_data_product

Description: Create a new Data Product in Collate. A Data Product groups data assets that deliver business value and must belong to at least one Domain. All referenced domain FQNs must already exist. Parameters Example

patch_entity

Description: Update an entity using JSON Patch operations. Always look up the entity first to get its current state and UUID before patching. Array fields use plural names in paths: /domains, /owners, /tags, /reviewers. Parameters Examples Update a description:
Add a domain:

Data Quality

Access test definitions and create test cases to validate your data assets.

get_test_definitions

Description: List available test definitions that can be used to create data quality test cases. Use entityType=TABLE for table-level tests and entityType=COLUMN for column-level tests. Pass results to create_test_case. Parameters Example

create_test_case

Description: Create a data quality test case for a table or column. Use get_test_definitions first to find the right test definition and its required parameters. Parameters Examples Table-level row count test:
Column uniqueness test:

Metrics

Define and track measurable business and technical KPIs.

create_metric

Description: Create a new Metric entity representing a measurable business or technical KPI (e.g., daily revenue, error rate). Metrics can be expressed in SQL, Python, Java, or JavaScript. Parameters Example