Alation MCP Server

What is this?

The Alation MCP Server is a specialized implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) designed to bridge AI-driven agents with Alation’s enterprise data catalog. Packaged as @modelcontextprotocol/server-alation, it empowers developers and organizations to seamlessly query metadata, enforce governance policies, and discover data lineage through standardized MCP endpoints. By exposing Alation’s rich metadata layer—tables, columns, glossaries, policies, and lineage graphs—this server transforms how AI assistants interact with a data catalog, enabling automated insights, policy checks, and dynamic data discovery.

In the broader MCP ecosystem, the Alation MCP Server serves as the vital metadata gateway for any AI agent that requires context about enterprise assets. As organizations scale their data platforms, centralized catalogs like Alation become the source of truth for data definitions, stewardship, and usage tracking. Embedding Alation within MCP allows AI-driven applications—chatbots, governance frameworks, virtual analysts—to consume metadata using uniform API patterns with reduced integration overhead and consistent governance enforcement.

Together, these capabilities position the Alation MCP Server as a cornerstone for enterprises committed to AI-driven data management, ensuring that metadata remains both accessible and actionable across teams and tools.

Quick Start

Install the server using npm:

npm install @modelcontextprotocol/server-alation

Then add it to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alation": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-alation"],
      "env": {
        "API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Key Features

Feature 1: AI-Powered Metadata Search lets agents find tables, columns, and glossaries using natural language queries with full-text and faceted filtering.

Feature 2: Automated Classification & Policy Governance validates data usage against compliance rules in real time, integrating with external policy engines.

Feature 3: Lineage Visualization & Impact Analysis traces data origins and downstream dependencies programmatically and exports graphs in JSON, DOT, or GraphML formats.

Example Usage

For example, you can search for tables with “sales” in their name updated in the last week:

// Example code
const result = await client.callTool({
  name: "search",
  arguments: {
    query: "sales",
    filters: {
      entityType: "table",
      updatedAfter: new Date(Date.now() - 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000).toISOString()
    },
    page: 1,
    pageSize: 20
  }
});

This code sends a resource search request to the Alation MCP Server and returns an array of matching table metadata results.

Configuration

The server accepts the following environment variables:

API_KEY – Your Alation API key or OAuth2 credentials for authenticating MCP requests.

REDIS_URL (optional) – Connection URL for a Redis instance to enable caching of metadata lookups.

Available Tools/Resources

Resources: CRUD operations for catalog assets such as tables, columns, and glossaries via /mcp/resources.

Tools: Automated classification, policy validation, and lineage retrieval under /mcp/tools.

Prompts: Predefined LLM prompts for discovery and summarization under /mcp/prompts.

Who Should Use This?

This server is perfect for:

Use case 1: Data analysts who need conversational metadata search and self-service discovery.

Use case 2: Data engineers enforcing governance policies in CI/CD pipelines.

Use case 3: AI developers building intelligent assistants and governance frameworks.

Conclusion

The Alation MCP Server provides a standardized, AI-friendly interface to your enterprise data catalog, enabling rapid metadata search, classification, and lineage analysis. Try it out to simplify governance and empower analytics teams with automated, policy-driven insights.

Check out the GitHub repository for more information and to contribute.