Rill Connector | Collate Dashboard Integration

This section provides guides and references to use the Rill connector. Configure and schedule Rill metadata workflows from the Collate UI:

• Requirements
• Metadata Ingestion
• Troubleshooting

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Requirements

The Rill connector reads metadata from a Rill runtime over its REST API. It works with both deployment styles:

• Rill Developer: A local or self-hosted Rill runtime. Point Host and Port at the runtime URL, for example http://localhost:9009. An API token is optional.
• Rill Cloud: A hosted project. Point Host and Port at the project endpoint, for example https://api.rilldata.com/v1/orgs/<org>/projects/<project>. An API Token is required.

The connector does not support Rill Cloud branch-level routing yet. If your project URL includes a /branch/<name> segment, remove it before configuring the connection. The token must have read access to the project’s resources. Collate uses that access to list the following:

• Dashboards, including Explore and Canvas dashboards
• Charts, including Canvas components
• Data models, including SQL models and metrics views
• Relationships between these assets

Project metadata is available for Rill Cloud only. A Rill Developer runtime does not expose a project.

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Metadata Ingestion

To ingest metadata from Rill, you need to create a service connection. The service connects Rill with Collate. Once you create a service, Collate automatically starts ingesting metadata.

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Step 1: Add New Service

Open the Services page and start a new service.

1. Navigate to Settings > Services and select Dashboard Services.
2. Click Add New Service.

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Step 2: Select a Service and Connector

From the service type dropdown, select Dashboard Services, then click the Rill connector tile.

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Step 3: Add Service Name and Description

• Enter a unique, descriptive Service Name. Collate identifies services by their service name. Enter a name that distinguishes this deployment from other Rill services you are ingesting metadata from.
• Optional: Enter a Description for the service.

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Step 4: Configure Connection Options

Specify where ingestion runs, provide your source credentials, and verify the connection.

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Select Ingestion Runner

Select an Ingestion Runner: the runner where the ingestion pipeline will execute.

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Enter Connection Details

Enter the connection details for Rill. The right-hand panel in the UI displays inline help for each field.

• Host and Port: URL of a Rill Developer runtime or a Rill Cloud project endpoint. For a local Rill Developer runtime, use something like http://localhost:9009. For Rill Cloud, use the project endpoint, for example https://api.rilldata.com/v1/orgs/<org>/projects/<project>.
• API Token (optional): API token used to authenticate with Rill. Required for Rill Cloud. Optional for a Rill Developer runtime that does not require authentication.
• Verify SSL (optional): Whether to verify SSL certificates when connecting to Rill. Defaults to true.

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Test Connection

1. Click Test Connection to verify the credentials.
2. After the test succeeds, click Save.

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Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options

In the What to Ingest step, use filter rules to control which dashboards, charts, and data models Collate ingests from the source.

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How Filter Rules Work

Each rule matches asset names using one of five match types:

• contains: matches any name containing the value. For example, sales matches my_sales_data and sales_2024.
• starts with: matches names beginning with the value. For example, prod_ matches prod_db and prod_schema.
• ends with: matches names ending with the value. For example, _raw matches events_raw and logs_raw.
• is exactly: matches the exact name only. For example, analytics matches only analytics.
• matches regex: matches names using a regular expression. For example, ^prod_.*_v\d+$ matches prod_events_v1.

When include and exclusion rules both match an asset, the exclusion rule takes priority.

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Filter Options

The Dashboard, Chart, and Data Model sections control ingestion for the corresponding asset type. Each section provides the following controls:

• Scan Mode: Choose between the following scan modes:
  • Scan all: Ingests every asset of that type the connector can access. This is the default.
  • Only specific: Enables include rules so only assets matching at least one rule are ingested.
• Always exclude: Add permanent exclusion rules (shown in red). Assets matching these rules are never ingested, regardless of include rules.
• Preview: Shows a real-time summary of what will be in scope based on your current rules.
• Include rules: In Only specific mode, click + Add to define a rule. Added rules appear as chips. An asset is included if it matches any rule.

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Step 6: Create & Deploy

Click Create & Deploy to deploy the agent and start the first metadata ingestion run. Collate saves the service configuration and immediately begins pulling metadata from the source. To monitor ingestion progress or view the service you just added, go to Settings > Services and select your service.

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Configure Metadata Agent and Schedule Ingestion

The Metadata Agent extracts dashboards, charts, data models, and other structural metadata from your source and keeps your Collate catalog in sync. It powers discovery, lineage, and governance across your data assets. When you click Create & Deploy, Collate automatically deploys a Metadata Agent for this service and triggers the first ingestion run. View its status and run history from the Agents tab on the service detail page. To configure the additional Metadata Agent and schedule ingestion, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > Services and select the Dashboards service.
2. Select your service and click the Agents tab.
3. Click Add Agent and select Metadata from the dropdown. For some services, the dropdown is not available and clicking Add Agent takes you directly to the agent configuration page.
4. On the Configure Ingestion page, do the following and click Next.
   • Name this Ingestion: Enter a unique, recognizable name for this ingestion pipeline.
   • Agent Setup: Configure ingestion parameters. The following fields are available:

     Field	Default	Description
     Db Service Prefixes	—	List of database service name prefixes used to resolve lineage between dashboards and database assets. Accepted formats: DBService, DBService.Database, DBService.Database.Schema, DBService.Database.Schema.Table.
     Query Parser Type	Auto	Select the SQL parser used for lineage extraction from dashboard queries. Auto selects the best available parser automatically. SqlGlot is a high-performance parser with excellent dialect support; falls back to SqlParse on failure. SqlFluff is a comprehensive parser with strong dialect support; falls back to SqlParse on failure.
     Mark Deleted Dashboards	On	Soft-delete dashboards in Collate when they are removed from the source. Associated lineage is also deleted.
     Mark Deleted Data Models	On	Soft-delete data models in Collate when they are removed from the source. Associated lineage is also deleted.
     Mark Deleted Charts	On	Soft-delete charts in Collate when they are removed from the source.
     Include Data Models	On	Ingest data model metadata.
     Include Draft Dashboards	On	Ingest dashboards that are in draft state.
     Include Usage	On	Collect and ingest usage statistics for dashboards.

     
   • Filter Patterns: Apply include or exclude rules to scope which dashboards, charts, data models, and projects this agent ingests. These follow the same filter options described in Step 5.
   • Scope & Behaviour: Control what metadata to include and how to handle deletions. Toggle each option on or off based on your needs:

     Toggle	Default	Description
     Enable Debug Log	Off	Sets the ingestion log level to DEBUG. Useful for troubleshooting.
     Include Current Owners	Off	When enabled, replaces the current owner with a new owner from the source if the current owner is null. Recommended to keep enabled during the first metadata ingestion to capture owner information.
     Include Tags	On	Ingest tags from the source.
     Override Metadata	Off	When on, source values overwrite existing descriptions, tags, owners, and display names in Collate. A description or display name that the source doesn’t send never replaces an existing value. When off, Collate only updates fields that have no existing value.
     Override Lineage	Off	When on, existing lineage is replaced with newly extracted lineage on each run.

     
5. On the Schedule Interval page, set when the agent runs:
   • Schedule: Choose a preset interval (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly) or enter a custom cron expression.
   • On-Demand: No automatic schedule. Trigger the agent manually when needed.
   
6. Click Add to deploy the agent.

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Troubleshooting