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Generate lineage between assets App
App

You can use the Lineage Generator (no transformations) app to automatically create lineage between assets across two systems when their names match or follow a consistent pattern. This is useful for keeping track of how data flows between databases, warehouses, or storage systems without needing to configure every connection manually.

Prerequisites​

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • Access to the Lineage Generator (No Transformations) app. You can verify this by searching for Workflow Alerting in the Atlan marketplace. If you don't have access, contact Atlan support or your Atlan customer team to request it.
  • At least one source connection and one target connection set up in Atlan with assets already crawled.

Setup workflow​

  1. In your Atlan workspace, go to the homepage and click New workflow in the top navigation bar.

  2. Search for Lineage Generator (no transformations), and then select Set up workflow.

  3. In the Workflow name field, enter a descriptive name such as:

    Staging to Reporting Lineage

  4. In the Source asset type property, select the type of asset from which lineage originates. For example, choose Table when working with a Snowflake staging schema. This limits scanning and matching to tables in the source prefix.

    For details on other supported asset types such as View, Materialized View, Column, or file-based objects, see the Source asset type.

  5. In the Source qualified name prefix property, enter the prefix that identifies the source assets. This narrows lineage generation to only those assets whose qualified names begin with the specified prefix.

    For example, if your Snowflake staging schema is stg, set the prefix to:

    default/snowflake/.../database_name/stg

  6. In the Target asset type property, select the type of asset to connect as the downstream target. For example, choose Table when linking Snowflake staging tables to reporting tables. This directs the workflow to search for target tables that match the source tables.

    For information on other supported asset types, including BI datasets and dashboards, see the Target asset type.

  7. In the Target qualified name prefix property, enter the prefix that identifies the target assets. This restricts lineage generation to assets whose qualified names begin with the specified prefix.

    For example, if your Snowflake reporting schema is rpt, set the prefix to:

    default/snowflake/.../database_name/rpt

  8. By default, the Case sensitive match property is set to Yes, while Ignore circular lineage and Match on schema are set to No. These defaults provide straightforward matching for a first run. For more information about how each option changes lineage generation, see the Lineage Generator reference.

  9. In the Output type property, select Preview lineage to generate a CSV preview of proposed matches without creating lineage in Atlan. Use this option to validate the results before making changes. For detailed explanations of each option, see the Output type.

  10. Run the workflow with Output type set to Preview lineage. This generates a CSV file showing the proposed matches between source and target assets.

  11. If the preview looks correct, update the Output type property to Generate lineage and run the workflow again. This applies the matches as lineage relationships in Atlan, making them visible in the lineage graph.

You can configure advanced options such as regex transformations, schema-based matching, or child-asset lineage. These options help handle complex naming patterns, prevent false matches across schemas, and extend lineage to column-level detail. For more details, see the Lineage Generator reference.

Need help?​

If you have any issues related to configuring the app, contact Atlan support.

See also​