Google Cloud Data Catalog API

Name: Google Cloud Data Catalog API API
Brand: Google Cloud Data Catalog API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecAnalyticsData Pipelinesoauth235 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Discover BigQuery, Pub/Sub, and other data assets, attach business tags, and search the catalog so an agent can locate and describe the right dataset for a query.

Quickstart

Get started with Google Cloud Data Catalog API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"search google data catalog for a bigquery table"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Google Cloud Data Catalog API API.

Search the catalog by keyword, fully qualified name, system, or tag value

Look up an entry by its linked resource (e.g. a BigQuery table URI)

Define and manage tag templates with typed fields for governed metadata

Attach tag instances to entries and column-level paths

GET STARTED

Start building with Google Cloud Data Catalog API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Use for: I need to find a BigQuery table by its business name, Search the catalog for tables tagged 'pii', Retrieve the schema and tags of a specific entry, Look up the entry for a given Cloud Storage bucket

Not supported: Does not query data, run pipelines, or scan content for sensitive values — use only to manage and search metadata about data assets.

Google Cloud Data Catalog API is a fully managed metadata service for discovering, describing, and governing data assets across BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Cloud Storage, and external sources. It exposes catalog search, entry groups, entries, tag templates, and tags so that data stewards can attach business context to columns and tables. Search supports keyword, fully qualified name, and metadata filter syntax. The API also handles IAM at every level so that data discovery can be opened to analysts while edits remain restricted to stewards.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Google Cloud Data Catalog API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Self-Service Data Discovery

Analysts use a portal that calls catalog.search with their plain-language query and a system filter on bigquery. Data Catalog returns ranked entries with descriptions, owners, and tags. Analysts find the right table in seconds rather than asking on Slack.

Run catalog.search with query='customer churn' and scope.includeProjectIds=['analytics-prod'], return the top 10 entries with their linkedResource and description.

PII Tagging Programme

A data governance team defines a 'pii_classification' tag template and runs tagging workflows that attach the tag to every column flagged by a scanner. Data Catalog stores tags at the column path so SQL editors and BI tools can warn before query authors export PII fields.

Create a tag from template 'pii_classification' on entry 'projects/p/locations/l/entryGroups/g/entries/e' with field column='email' and value='HIGH'.

Custom Source Cataloguing

A platform team registers entries for tables stored in Snowflake or an on-prem Hive metastore so analysts can find them through the same Data Catalog search experience as native BigQuery tables. Custom entry groups and entries hold the schema, owner, and tags. Search treats native and custom entries uniformly.

Create an entryGroup 'snowflake' in us-central1 and add an entry of type TABLE with linkedResource pointing to 'snowflake://acme/orders'.

AI Agent Data Lookup

An analytics AI agent receives 'how many customers signed up last month' and asks Jentic for the right BigQuery table by searching Data Catalog with the question. The agent then issues a BigQuery SQL query against the matched entry. Jentic isolates the Google service account credential and rotates tokens per call.

Run catalog.search with query='customer signups' and system='BIGQUERY', return the top match's linkedResource and description for downstream SQL generation.

Key Endpoints

35 endpoints — google cloud data catalog api is a fully managed metadata service for discovering, describing, and governing data assets across bigquery, pub/sub, cloud storage, and external sources.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/v1/catalog:search

Search the catalog by query and filters

GET

/v1/entries:lookup

Look up an entry by linkedResource or fully qualified name

GET

/v1/{+name}

Get a specific entry, entry group, or tag template

POST

/v1/{+name}/operations

List long-running operations on a resource

POST

/v1/catalog:search

Search the catalog by query and filters

GET

/v1/entries:lookup

Look up an entry by linkedResource or fully qualified name

GET

/v1/{+name}

Get a specific entry, entry group, or tag template

POST

/v1/{+name}/operations

List long-running operations on a resource

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

Google service account credentials are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents call datacatalog.googleapis.com using short-lived OAuth access tokens with the cloud-platform scope.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic for 'find bigquery table' and Jentic returns the catalog.search and entries.lookup operations with their full input schemas, including scope and filter syntax.

Time to first call

Direct integration: 1-2 days to handle OAuth, search filter syntax, and tag template setup. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes by composing search, load, and execute on the catalog and entries endpoints.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Complementary

Google BigQuery API

Native source whose tables Data Catalog automatically indexes

Use Data Catalog to discover the right BigQuery table; use BigQuery to actually run the SQL

Complementary

Google Cloud Data Fusion API

Builds pipelines that move data between systems referenced in Data Catalog

Pair with Data Catalog when an agent must locate a source dataset before configuring a pipeline

Complementary

Google Cloud Pub/Sub API

Streaming source whose topics Data Catalog can index alongside batch sources

Use Pub/Sub for messaging; use Data Catalog to make those topics discoverable to analysts

FAQs

Specific to using Google Cloud Data Catalog API API through Jentic.

What authentication does the Google Cloud Data Catalog API use?

The Data Catalog API uses Google OAuth 2.0 with the cloud-platform scope. Through Jentic the service account credentials are kept encrypted in the Jentic vault and the agent receives short-lived access tokens minted per request.

Can I search Data Catalog for BigQuery tables by business description?

Yes. Call /v1/catalog:search with a query string referencing the description text and a scope filter on system='BIGQUERY'. Results include entries with their linkedResource (the BigQuery table URI), schema, and tags.

What are the rate limits for the Google Cloud Data Catalog API?

Data Catalog enforces per-project quotas with stricter limits on catalog.search and tag mutations than on entry reads. Inspect the Cloud Console Quotas page for the precise per-method limits in your project.

How do I tag a BigQuery column with PII through Jentic?

Run pip install jentic, search Jentic for 'tag bigquery column data catalog', load the schema for tags.create on datacatalog.googleapis.com, and execute it with the entry name, tag template reference, and column path.

Does Data Catalog query the underlying data?

No. It only manages metadata: schemas, descriptions, tags, and lineage hints. Querying a discovered BigQuery table or Cloud Storage object happens through the respective service API.