> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://honeydew.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Atlan

[Atlan](https://atlan.com/) is a **context layer for AI**. It catalogs the assets
across your data landscape — along with their glossary terms, lineage, and
documentation — and makes that context available to AI tools and agents.

The integration works in both directions. Honeydew publishes its semantic
definitions into Atlan, and Honeydew's AI can read governed definitions back
out of Atlan as [context](#atlan-as-a-context-source).

<Info>
  This integration is in Beta. To enable for your organization,
  please contact [support@honeydew.ai](mailto:support@honeydew.ai).
</Info>

## Two Context Layers

Honeydew and Atlan are both context layers, at different levels of the stack:

|                 | Honeydew [Context Layer](/docs/integration/context-layer/overview)                  | Atlan context layer                                                            |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Grounded in** | The semantic layer — governed metrics, entities, and calculations              | The catalog — assets, glossary terms, lineage, and documentation               |
| **Scope**       | How your organization analyzes: methodologies, conventions, and past decisions | What exists across the data landscape and business systems, and who governs it |
| **Answers**     | How a number is defined and computed correctly                                 | What an asset is, where it came from, and whether it is trusted                |

The two are complementary rather than competing. Atlan describes assets across
the estate; Honeydew defines the logic that turns them into governed metrics,
and generates the SQL. Publishing Honeydew definitions into Atlan makes them
discoverable next to everything else, and reading Atlan definitions into
Honeydew avoids restating business knowledge that is already governed.

## What Syncs

Honeydew publishes to Atlan:

* Entities, attributes, and metrics as catalog assets.
* Business [metadata](/docs/governance/metadata) — owner, description, labels,
  folder, and display name.
* Lineage from semantic definitions back to warehouse tables and columns.

## How It Works

Honeydew uses Atlan's metadata API to publish semantic definitions,
enabling lineage back to the underlying warehouse tables and columns.

## Setup

Create an Atlan API token, then configure the integration in Honeydew.

### Create an Atlan API token

In Atlan:

1. From the left menu, click **Admin**, then under **Workspace**, click
   **API tokens** (admin access is required).
2. Click **Generate new** and select **Generate API token**.
3. Enter a name for the token, such as `honeydew`, and an optional
   description.
4. Copy the generated token.

<Note>
  Atlan grants a new token admin-level API privileges by default, excluding
  connection admin. To narrow what the token can reach, assign personas to it
  when you create it.
</Note>

See Atlan's
[API tokens documentation](https://docs.atlan.com/get-started/references/api-access)
for token management, rotation, and revocation.

### Configure Honeydew

1. Go to **Settings** → **Atlan**.
2. Enter the **API endpoint** of your Atlan tenant, in the form
   `https://<tenant>.atlan.com`.
3. Paste the Atlan API **token** and save.

## Atlan as a Context Source

Atlan is also supported as an
[External Knowledge](/docs/integration/context-layer/context-management#external-knowledge)
source, so the AI can fetch governed definitions and glossary terms from Atlan
over MCP when answering questions.

Use this to reuse business knowledge that Atlan already governs — glossary
terms, policies, and asset documentation — instead of restating it as Honeydew
context. Definitions stay owned in one place, and Honeydew reads the current
version at query time.

This is configured separately from the catalog integration above:

1. Go to **Settings** → **MCP connections** and connect **Atlan**. Each user
   authenticates individually, so content is fetched with their own permissions.
2. Create an External Knowledge context item whose `external_source.tool` is an
   Atlan tool, such as `mcp__atlan__get_assets`, and whose `resource_id` is the
   identifier of the asset or glossary term to fetch.

See [External Knowledge](/docs/integration/context-layer/context-management#external-knowledge)
for the full field reference.