Curation Automation¶
Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation
Overview¶
Applies from Alation version 2026.2.1.0
Alation’s Curation Automation is an AI-powered curation capability that automates governance rather than relying on manual processes. Curation Automation enables Catalog Admins and Server Admins to define rules that curate large volumes of data assets from a central hub. This approach shifts the data management focus from manual, individual edits to a standardized rule-based system. Admins can now define governance standards centrally, rather than editing assets individually. These standards are automatically and consistently applied to all current and future assets that match the rules.
Catalog admins can now define and apply standards, monitor, and scale metadata automatically across the catalog lifecycle, enabling faster adoption of trusted data products, measurable regulatory compliance, and AI agents that run on curated, reliable data. Additionally, admins can preview AI recommendations before applying them, and rely on audit logs for complete transparency.
Before you create a curation rule, familiarize yourself with the key concepts in Curation Automation and understand the various building blocks that make a rule:
Key Concepts in Curation Automation¶
Understand some of the key concepts of Curation Automation to help you get started with creating your first rule.
Curation Rule¶
A Rule is a saved set of instructions defining a specific curation task:
Purpose: Explains why the rule exists.
Scope: Identifies which assets are affected.
Fields: Specifies which metadata fields to populate.
Value Source: Determines whether values are Deterministic (fixed) or AI-generated (with required confidence).
Reporting and Audit: Measures the rule’s impact on alignment with standards.
Scope¶
The Scope is a flexible selection of RDBMS data source objects, allowing assets to be included or excluded by:
Schema
Table
Column
Value Sources¶
Value Sources define how the metadata values are derived:
Manual or Fixed - You provide exact, fixed values. For example, Set the Steward field to the value <user/group>. Recommended for ownership or stewardship.
AI-generated - Curation agents generate values using catalog context (objects, tags, source comments). Results include a confidence score. Recommended descriptions and classifications with clear instructions.
AI Agents¶
In Alation Curation Automation, AI Agents act as your automated stewards. They act as specialized automation components that take your specific curation knowledge, such as how to describe a table or how to flag sensitive data, and transform it into a repeatable, auditable, and explainable capability. While you establish the governing logic through AI instructions, the AI Agents execute these standards by automatically populating and maintaining metadata across your entire catalog at scale
AI Actions¶
For curation automation, Alation defines an AI action as: an Alation AI Agent filling an AI-generated value for a single field in a single object in a rule. Before running a rule, based on the defined object scope and the number of empty fields within that scope, Curation Automation approximately calculates and displays the maximum AI Action count on the Preview screen. After the rule completes successfully, the actual AI action is calculated based on the number of fields successfully updated by AI, and the remaining balance is also displayed.
Alation does not treat manually curated fields as AI actions. The fields that you populate using fixed value sources do not count towards your AI action balance. You can create rules that combine both AI-generated and manual fields; only the successfully updated AI-generated fields will be deducted from your free AI action allotment. In case a rule fails mid-run, only completed updates are counted.
Get Started with Curation Automation¶
Curation Automation is available in the New User Experience on Alation Cloud Service instances starting with version 2026.2.1.0.
The Curation Automation option is enabled by default.
Note
If you do not see this feature, contact Alation Support to enable it.
Important
Each tenant is provided with 100,000 free AI Actions, meaning the first 100,000 are free, and Alation will charge for each AI action thereafter. For more information on pricing details, contact your Alation Account Manager. If you don’t have enough AI actions to run a curation rule, Alation prevents you from executing the rule by displaying a message with the number of actions required versus your available balance. You can still create, edit, save, and preview curation rules; however, you cannot execute rules that require AI-generated curation until you replenish your balance. To replenish your AI action balance, contact your Alation Account Manager. Rules that use only manual curation methods are not affected, and you can still execute those rules.
Access Curation Automation¶
To access Curation Automation:
Click the Curate and Govern icon from the left-side navigation panel of Alation user interface to open the Governance page.
Select the Curation Automation option from the Curate section.
The Curation Automation page opens.
Overview Dashboard¶
When you have at least one curation rule, the Curation Automation page displays the following tabs:
Overview - Provides a high-level metrics (Summary Metrics) dashboard and a visual representation of the aggregate impact of your curation rules (Curation Impact Chart). This is the default view.
Curation Rules - Displays a list of all existing rules and lets you manage them. For details, see Manage Curation Automation.
Summary Metrics¶
The Overview tab displays real-time metrics that show the impact of your automation. You can filter these metrics by 7 Days, 30 Days (default), or Lifetime using the date filter.
Metric |
Description |
|---|---|
Active Curation Rules |
The number of active rules in the Alation’s Curation Automation. |
Total Objects Curated |
The number of data objects (schemas, tables, and columns) with at least one field updated by curation rules. |
Total Fields Curated |
The number of objects successfully processed by curation rules. If any field in a rule is skipped due to low confidence, the object is not included in this count. |
AI Curated Fields |
The number of fields populated using AI-generated values. |
Manually Curated Fields |
The number of fields populated using fixed values. |
Estimated Time Saved |
Estimated time saved through automated curation compared to manual metadata updates (assumes two minutes per field). |
Curation Impact Chart¶
The Curation impact over time chart visualizes the growth of curated fields versus the timeline selected in your date filter. As your automation rules run, the trend line reflects the cumulative increase in metadata updates. You can hover over any data point on the line to see the specific total number of fields curated for that date.