BI & Analytics connector

The Metabase data catalog your whole team can trust.

The Dawiso Metabase connector turns your instance into a searchable data catalog: every collection, question, dashboard and model, with lineage to the database below.

Read the docs

Live connector Stable connector

Metabase

Dawiso

Metadata-only · your data never leaves the source

Type: Open source BI platform
Auth: API key or service credentials
Sync: Scheduled, incremental
Direction: Read-only · metadata

First things first

What is a data connector?

Metadata-only Read-only access Incremental sync Cross-system lineage

A data connector is the bridge between a tool in your stack and the catalog that gives you a unified view of it. Once a connector is configured, it reaches into the source system on a schedule, reads out the metadata - schemas, tables, dashboards, jobs, ownership, lineage - and represents it inside the catalog. Your actual rows and values stay where they are.

Connectors are the reason a data catalog can answer questions like "which Power BI dashboard depends on this Snowflake table?" or "who owns the orders topic in Kafka?" - automatically, without anyone keeping a spreadsheet up to date.

Three properties separate a good connector from a brittle one: it should be read-only and safe, it should be incremental so a full re-scan isn't required for every refresh, and it should resolve lineage across system boundaries, not just inside one tool.

About the platform

What is Metabase?

Metabase is the open source business intelligence tool used by 90,000+ companies. Built in Clojure with a TypeScript front-end, it ships as a self-hosted Docker image or as Metabase Cloud, and lets non-engineers build questions, dashboards and models on top of any SQL database.

Metabase has lightweight catalog features inside the app. What it does not have is cross-platform lineage, a business glossary, ownership workflows, or a single search across Metabase, Power BI and the warehouse. That's where the Dawiso Metabase data catalog joins the picture: read-only, metadata-only, and cross-platform.

Architecture

How Dawiso connects to Metabase

A small read-only role on the Metabase side. The Dawiso scanner pulls metadata on a schedule. Everything ends up in your catalog, business-readable.

Source

Metabase (self-hosted or Cloud)

Collections & sub-collections
Questions & models
Dashboards & cards
Registered databases

REST · JDBC

Dawiso scanner

Read-only metadata

Schema & object discovery
Dependency resolution
SQL flow parsing (optional)
Sampling on opt-in

Internal

Catalog

Dawiso platform

Searchable metadata
Lineage & ownership
Business glossary
Policy & classifications

Connection details

Protocol: Metabase REST API
Authentication: API key (recommended) or service-user credentials
Lineage: Question-to-dashboard-to-source-database relationships resolved from Metabase metadata (object-level data lineage)

Setup

Connect Metabase in 4 steps

01

Create a service user

In Metabase Admin Settings > People, invite a service user (e.g. Dawiso Reader). Add it to a dedicated group such as DawisoGroup. Save the password if no email is configured.
02

Grant collection view permissions

In Permissions > Collection permissions, give the group View access to every collection you want catalogued. For full lineage, the Administrators group works too.
03

Generate an API key (recommended)

Under Settings > Authentication > API Keys, create a key (e.g. DawisoKey) and assign it to the service-user group. Copy the key; it is shown once.
04

Connect in Dawiso

Add the Metabase server URL (self-hosted or metabaseapp.com), choose API key or credentials, list the collections to ingest, and run scheduled ingestion.

Capabilities

What you get with the Metabase connector

Question & dashboard catalog

Every question, dashboard and model across every collection is searchable, with owners, source database and the SQL that powers each question.
Object-level data lineage

Trace any Metabase dashboard card through its question to the Postgres, MySQL or BigQuery database that feeds it.
Model & SQL library

Centralize Metabase models and reusable SQL so the same revenue definition is not rewritten as a saved question in five different collections.
Usage & adoption

See which dashboards get opened, which gather dust, and who the power users are. Retire what nobody opens with evidence.
Ownership & certification

Mark questions and dashboards as certified, deprecated or under review. The owner is visible directly in the catalog alongside Metabase permissions.
Self-hosted or Cloud

One connector for Metabase Cloud and self-hosted Docker, so an open source stack ends up in the same governed catalog as Snowflake.

Business value

Why teams turn on the Metabase connector

−65%
Fewer duplicate questions

Analysts find the certified question in Dawiso instead of rewriting the same SQL into a new saved question in another collection.
10×
Faster impact analysis

Before altering a source table, see exactly which Metabase questions, dashboards and models depend on it. Seconds, not days.
Open source
Catalog without lock-in

Dawiso catalogs Metabase the same way it catalogs Snowflake or Power BI, so an open source BI choice does not become a governance gap.

Ready to catalog your Metabase?

Set up the connector in an afternoon. See your first lineage graph the same day.

Read the docs

Frequently asked questions

Still curious? Talk to our team ->

Does Metabase have a data catalog?

Metabase is a BI tool without a full catalog. Dawiso reads Metabase metadata read-only - questions, dashboards, collections and their queries - and turns it into a searchable catalog with lineage back to the source tables.

What is a data catalog used for?

A data catalog makes every report and dataset discoverable, documented and trustworthy. Dawiso links Metabase content to the warehouse tables behind it, so the whole business can trust what a dashboard shows.

What permissions does Dawiso need in Metabase?

A dedicated service user in a group with View access to the collections you want catalogued, plus either an API key assigned to that group or the user's password. Dawiso never modifies questions, dashboards or databases.

Does Dawiso copy Metabase data?

No. Dawiso calls the Metabase REST API for metadata only. The rows returned by each saved question stay inside Metabase. Sampling is opt-in per data source and never runs by default.

Self-hosted Metabase or Metabase Cloud?

Both are supported with the same connector. The only difference is the server URL (e.g. metabase.your-domain.com versus your-tenant.metabaseapp.com). On-prem deployments are reached via Dawiso Integration Runtime.

API key or username and password?

API keys are recommended: they are scoped to a group, easy to rotate, and do not depend on a user password. Username plus password still works if you need it; both options sit side by side in the connection form.