Get Decision Context

Type: Function

Retrieve the complete governance context for a single table. This returns everything an AI agent needs to understand the rules governing a table: policy summaries, business context, compliance requirements, retention rules, lineage, and tags.

Use Cases

• An AI agent needs to understand what rules apply to a table before generating a query
• A data steward reviews the full governance posture of a table during an audit
• An automated workflow checks compliance requirements before scheduling a data pipeline
• An agent explains to a user why certain restrictions exist on a table

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
table_name	string	Yes	Fully qualified table name (DB.SCHEMA.TABLE). Case-insensitive.

Output Schema

Returns a single governance context object:

Field	Type	Description
table_name	string	Fully qualified table name as stored in governance tables
sensitivity	string	Table-level sensitivity: public, internal, confidential, or restricted
enforcement_mode	string	How policies are enforced: enforced, advisory, or mixed
policy_summary	object	Aggregate policy counts
policy_summary.total	integer	Total number of policies applied
policy_summary.enforceable	integer	Policies with enforcement mode enforced
policy_summary.advisory	integer	Policies with enforcement mode advisory
business_context	object	Business metadata
business_context.owner	string	Data owner or owning team
business_context.steward	string	Data steward responsible for governance
business_context.domain	string	Business domain
business_context.purpose	string	Description of the table's purpose
lineage	object	Data lineage information
lineage.upstream	array	Tables that feed into this table
lineage.downstream	array	Tables that consume from this table
compliance	object	Compliance metadata
compliance.regulations	array	Applicable regulations (e.g., ["GDPR", "CCPA"])
compliance.certifications	array	Certifications the table falls under (e.g., ["SOC2"])
retention	object	Retention policy
retention.period	string	Retention duration (e.g., "7 years")
retention.trigger	string	What starts the retention clock (e.g., "record_creation")
retention.action	string	What happens at expiry (e.g., "delete", "archive")
tags	object	Key-value tag pairs applied to the table

Example Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "table_name": "ANALYTICS_DB.CORE.CUSTOMERS",
    "sensitivity": "confidential",
    "enforcement_mode": "enforced",
    "policy_summary": {
      "total": 3,
      "enforceable": 2,
      "advisory": 1
    },
    "business_context": {
      "owner": "data_engineering",
      "steward": "jane.doe@company.com",
      "domain": "customer_data",
      "purpose": "Master customer record for analytics and CRM integrations"
    },
    "lineage": {
      "upstream": ["RAW_DB.INGESTION.CRM_CUSTOMERS"],
      "downstream": ["ANALYTICS_DB.REPORTING.CUSTOMER_METRICS"]
    },
    "compliance": {
      "regulations": ["GDPR", "CCPA"],
      "certifications": ["SOC2", "ISO27001"]
    },
    "retention": {
      "period": "7 years",
      "trigger": "record_creation",
      "action": "archive"
    },
    "tags": {
      "cost_center": "CC-1234",
      "data_product": "customer_360"
    }
  },
  "errors": []
}

SQL Examples

Get governance context for a table

SELECT METATATE_APP.CORE.GET_GOVERNANCE_CONTEXT(
  OBJECT_CONSTRUCT('table_name', 'ANALYTICS_DB.CORE.CUSTOMERS')
);

Parse specific fields from the response

SELECT
  result:data:sensitivity::STRING AS sensitivity,
  result:data:policy_summary:total::INT AS total_policies,
  result:data:compliance:regulations AS regulations
FROM (
  SELECT METATATE_APP.CORE.GET_GOVERNANCE_CONTEXT(
    OBJECT_CONSTRUCT('table_name', 'ANALYTICS_DB.CORE.CUSTOMERS')
  ) AS result
);

JSON Request / Response (API)

Request:

{
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get-decision-context",
    "arguments": {
      "table_name": "ANALYTICS_DB.CORE.CUSTOMERS"
    }
  }
}

Response:

{
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "text": "{\"status\":\"success\",\"data\":{\"table_name\":\"ANALYTICS_DB.CORE.CUSTOMERS\",\"sensitivity\":\"confidential\",\"enforcement_mode\":\"enforced\",\"policy_summary\":{\"total\":3,\"enforceable\":2,\"advisory\":1},\"business_context\":{\"owner\":\"data_engineering\",\"steward\":\"jane.doe@company.com\",\"domain\":\"customer_data\",\"purpose\":\"Master customer record for analytics and CRM integrations\"},\"lineage\":{\"upstream\":[\"RAW_DB.INGESTION.CRM_CUSTOMERS\"],\"downstream\":[\"ANALYTICS_DB.REPORTING.CUSTOMER_METRICS\"]},\"compliance\":{\"regulations\":[\"GDPR\",\"CCPA\"],\"certifications\":[\"SOC2\",\"ISO27001\"]},\"retention\":{\"period\":\"7 years\",\"trigger\":\"record_creation\",\"action\":\"archive\"},\"tags\":{\"cost_center\":\"CC-1234\",\"data_product\":\"customer_360\"}},\"errors\":[]}"
    }
  ]
}

Try it in the app

Open Metatate and navigate to the Test Tools tab to run get-decision-context interactively. Enter a fully qualified table name and see the full governance context rendered as formatted JSON.