Data governance platforms were the context layer for compliance. Atlan is the context layer for AI.
The rules existed for humans. AI needs to know them too.
Data governance platforms built the policy layer for compliance teams — tagging PII, classifying assets, enforcing access controls, tracking what data exists and who can touch it. Written for humans who could read a policy doc.
AI agents can read policy docs — but a policy doc doesn't tell an agent whether the specific column it's querying right now is PII, under a data residency restriction, or certified for use. Without governance context embedded, agents operate blindly: they don't know a column is restricted. They don't know access wasn't supposed to be granted. They produce answers with data they shouldn't have used, in ways that violate rules they never knew existed.
Atlan is the context layer for AI — the infrastructure that makes every AI agent in your stack accurate, trustworthy, and production-ready. The context layer is broader than governance: it includes business knowledge, semantic definitions, lineage, quality signals, and the institutional expertise encoded in every SQL query and BI dashboard your team has ever built. But governance context is foundational to all of it. No agent should act on data without knowing what's classified as PII, what's restricted, what policies apply, and who can access what.
Governance classifications — PII tags, security labels, compliance policies, data quality scores — propagate along Data Lineage automatically to every downstream asset and every AI agent. Access is enforced at the Data Marketplace before agents or humans ever reach restricted data. Context Engineering Studio validates that agents are respecting governance before any context ships to production. The rules your governance team built for humans now reach every AI in your stack.
From data governance to the context layer for AI.
The context layer for AI spans business knowledge, semantic definitions, lineage, and quality — but governance context is the foundation. Before an agent acts, it needs to know what's classified, what it can access, and whether the context it's running on respects the policies your team has set.
Classification context propagates automatically
Data Lineage carries governance context downstream. Tag a column as PII once — every downstream asset, pipeline, and AI agent inherits that classification automatically. Security labels, compliance flags, and data quality scores travel with the data.
Access context enforced at the source
The Data Marketplace enforces access policies at the point of request — zero-touch provisioning means the right agents and humans get the right data, and restricted data stays restricted. No manual queues. No policy exceptions.
Policy context validated before production
Context Engineering Studio ensures AI agents are respecting governance context before they ship. Test suites surface when an agent is using data it shouldn't, producing answers that violate policy, or missing classification context it needs.
Leading AI teams use Atlan to connect context
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Tag once. Every agent knows the rules.
PII classifications, security labels, and compliance flags propagate along lineage to every downstream asset and every AI agent automatically — so governance context travels with your data, not behind it.
A living graph that compounds governance signals.
A living graph that connects everything and compounds everything.
ORDERS_RAWDIM_CUSTOMERSREVENUE_AGG"With Google DataPlex, lineage only showed part of the story. Our business operates across many systems and we needed complete, enterprise-wide lineage. Atlan''s platform was more intuitive, delivered on complex end-to-end lineage, and had a strong library of connectors. We also used OpenLineage for Spark jobs to tie operational lineage to our data platform."
Zenul Pomal
Core Data Platform & Enterprise Architecture, CME Group
18M+
Assets
Cataloged
1,300+
Glossary terms
connected
100+
Active
Users
Access context. Enforced automatically.
Zero-touch provisioning means access policies run at the point of request — the right agents and humans get the right data, restricted data stays restricted, and no manual approval queue slows governance down.
The policy layer that never sleeps, so you can.
The policy layer that never sleeps, so you can.
The average access request takes two weeks. Not because the data is sensitive, but because nobody knows the policy. Atlan attaches policies directly to assets, enforces access automatically, and never slows anyone down.
Ask AI›What's our most trusted churn dataset?
Kiran Panja
MD, Cloud & Data Engineering, CME Group
Know your agents are respecting governance before they ship.
Context Engineering Studio generates test suites from your existing dashboards and queries — surfacing when an agent is using data it shouldn't, missing classification context, or producing outputs that violate policy. Governance validated before production, not discovered after.
Built to solve the three biggest context challenges.
Context is scattered across every tool.
Most enterprises are stuck here. You have a thousand AI use cases but you don''t know what data you have, what it means, or how to make it machine-readable.
"You can create a cortex analyst in five minutes but your data has to be just right for it to work. It would take us a lot more time to get the data right first and then build."
— Leading UK Retail Group
Solved by Context Bootstrapping: Context Engineering Studio reads your existing data graph to auto-generate a semantic layer you can build on.
Joe DosSantos
VP Enterprise Data & Analytics, Workday
Atlan connects with the tools that already govern your data.
Your security and compliance stack already does the hard work of discovering sensitive data, classifying it, and controlling who can access it. Atlan is what turns those signals into shared context — so every AI agent and every analyst operates within the governance rules your security and compliance teams have already set.
Native integrations with DSPM and access governance tools.
Cyera — DSPM
Cyera discovers and classifies sensitive data across your cloud estate — PII, PHI, financial records, credentials. Atlan''s native Cyera integration crawls those classification signals and pulls them into the context layer. AI agents querying through Atlan''s MCP Server receive Cyera''s classifications before they act.
Immuta — Access Governance
Immuta governs data access — who can query what, under what policy conditions. The Atlan + Immuta integration associates Immuta access request links directly with data assets in Atlan, so users and agents requesting access initiate the correct governed workflow without leaving discovery context.
BigID — Data Intelligence
BigID maps privacy, compliance, and security risk across your data estate — labeling what''s regulated, what''s sensitive, and what needs governance attention. Atlan and BigID deliver the enterprise context layer for AI together: BigID''s policy intelligence enriches the assets Atlan surfaces to AI agents and analysts.
The recognized leader in data and AI governance
Every layer of the context layer for AI.
Context Engineering Studio
Validate governance context before production.
Data governance platforms were the context layer for compliance.
This is the context layer for AI.
30-min call. An honest conversation
Frequently Asked Questions: Data Governance for AI Agents
What is the context layer for AI, and how does it relate to data governance?
How does Atlan give AI agents governance context?
How does PII classification reach AI agents automatically?
What does data access control look like for AI agents?
Does Atlan work with the governance and security tools we already have?
Can Atlan replace our existing data governance platform?
Atlan does not replace your DSPM tools or data access tools. Cyera and BigID discover and classify sensitive data across your cloud estate — Atlan integrates natively with both and surfaces their classifications as governance context in the context layer. Immuta governs fine-grained data access — Atlan integrates with Immuta to surface access request workflows at the point of discovery, keeping enforcement where it belongs. Your specialist security and compliance tools keep doing what they do. Atlan is the layer that turns their signals into shared context every AI agent and analyst can use.