Recipes
This page maps common use cases to what you build and where you deliver it, with curated end-to-end walkthroughs for the patterns we see working at real enterprises. Build covers the building blocks; Integrations covers the delivery channels.
Use case map
Section titled “Use case map”| If you want to… | Build | Deliver via |
|---|---|---|
| Get alerted when a business condition fires | Scheduled alert emails | Email or Slack |
| Ask questions of your data in natural language | A Query-style agent with SQL tools | Web UI or Slack |
| Power your own app with chat-with-data | Embedded chat via REST | REST API |
| Bring trusted catalog context into Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or Cursor | Nothing — use the built-in tools | MCP client setup |
| Clean up your catalog or BI estate in bulk | Bulk trust flags, BI rationalization | Web UI, or scheduled flows |
| Create data products from usage evidence | Generate data products | Web UI |
| Fill the Opportunities Inbox automatically | Recommend data products | Scheduled flow |
| Work with Alation from your AI coding tool | Nothing — install the plugin | Plugins (Agent Skills) |
Alerts and notifications
Section titled “Alerts and notifications”Chat with data
Section titled “Chat with data”Embed chat-with-data in your applicationCall agents from your own product over the streaming REST API. Powers 150k+ calls a month in production.Query Agent Studio from SnowflakeCall agents directly from Snowflake using an HTTP request integration.
Catalog context everywhere
Section titled “Catalog context everywhere”Catalog context searchRetrieve trusted catalog context for any natural-language question, inside or outside Alation.Scoped context in Copilot and TeamsPublish a domain-scoped context agent into M365, where tight scoping is what makes the accuracy.
Curation and governance
Section titled “Curation and governance”Bulk endorse or deprecate objectsApply trust flags to many objects at once by criteria, with a human review step built in.Find duplicate and stale BI reportsRationalize your BI estate. One enterprise cut its Tableau licenses in half.Document lineage automaticallyUse the Lineage Agent to generate human-readable documentation from lineage graphs.
Data product management
Section titled “Data product management”Generate data products from usage evidenceTurn QLI usage signals and BI lineage into fully enriched, chat-ready data products with a supervised approval gate.Populate the Opportunities InboxRun the recommender on a schedule to surface high-value clusters as inbox cards that stewards claim at their own pace.
Workflow automation
Section titled “Workflow automation”Before you build
Section titled “Before you build”Every recipe runs into the same platform constraints sooner or later. Read the known limitations once before starting; each recipe links back to the ones it hits.