explore
Use when the user wants to discover, find, or browse data assets in the Alation catalog, data products, or marketplaces. Triggers: search catalog, find tables, list data sources, browse schemas, show columns, what data do we have, what tables exist, explore database, describe table, what's in this data source, show me the schema, list schemas, list columns, what databases do we have, show table structure, describe this data source, find data products, list data products, what data products do we have, search products, show available products, what products are in the marketplace, browse marketplace, which product has sales data. Use this skill when the user wants to know what data exists, understand table/column structure, or find data products — not when they want actual query results or numbers. Not for answering data questions or running queries — use ask instead. Not for creating or managing data products — use curate instead.
Install
With your agent
Install OMGSkills skill "alation/alation-plugins:skills/explore" into this agent's normal skills directory: call the OMGSkills MCP get_install_plan tool for your agent and run the script it returns (it installs only the pinned commit and verifies SKILL.md), and stop if MCP or the pin is unavailable. Do not overwrite or change existing skills without asking me.
Manual command
git clone https://github.com/Alation/alation-plugins /tmp/alation-plugins && ln -s /tmp/alation-plugins/skills/explore ~/.claude/skills/exploreFrom README
Explore Find and explain where data lives in Alation, using user language (not Alation jargon), and return navigable catalog results. Behavior Contract Be concise: default to short answers and focused result lists. Use user terminology first, then map to Alation object types internally. Ask at most one clarifying question when needed. Do not run queries for totals/counts/trends in this skill. Include catalog url for each recommended result. Intent Mapping (Goal First) Translate user goals into catalog discovery actions: "Where can I find X data?" -> keyword search, then refine by object type. "What data sources do we have?" -> list data sources. "What is inside source X?" -> browse source -> schemas -> tables -> columns. "Show me schema/table structure" -> browse hierarchy for that object. "Tell me about this table/column" -> describe specific object by ID. "What data products do we have?" -> list data products. "Which product has sales data?" -> search data products by keyword.
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