---
title: "Grow your business glossary - Atlan MCP Cookbook"
url: "https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/grow-your-business-glossary/"
description: "Bootstrap glossary terms from how your assets already use business concepts."
---

> Atlan is hosting Context Conference, bringing together the leaders and builders at the frontier of giving AI the context it needs to understand their business. It runs online on October 28, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM ET. Atlan co-founder Prukalpa Sankar opens and closes the day. Leaders from AstraZeneca, BNY and Verizon share why they invest in context and what they get from it. Registrants get early access to The AI Context Gap, a new study from MIT Technology Review Insights. Register: https://atlan.com/context-conference/

Recipe 15 in [The Atlan MCP Cookbook](https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/). Bootstrap glossary terms from how your assets already use business concepts.

Use case: Make data understandable / Action: Make changes / Persona: Data Governance Lead, Data/BI Analyst / Effort: Moderate / Runs in: any AI tool

Requires Atlan MCP connected to your AI tool: [set up Atlan MCP](https://docs.atlan.com/product/capabilities/atlan-ai/how-tos/remote-mcp-overview).

## 1. The task

**Scenario.** "Customer lifetime value" shows up in a dozen tables, three dashboards, and half your dbt models, spelled LTV in some and CLV in others, and it has no canonical definition anywhere. You want a real term in the glossary, drafted from how the concept is actually used, with the relevant assets linked to it.

The ask:
- Every asset that references customer lifetime value or LTV
- A definition drafted from how those assets use it
- A glossary term created and the assets linked to it

Hero prompt:

> Find all assets that reference customer lifetime value or LTV. Create a glossary term called Customer Lifetime Value with a definition based on how these assets use it, then link them to the term.

Step by step:

1. Search for assets that reference the concept. Prompt: "Find all assets that reference [concept, e.g. customer lifetime value]."
2. Draft a definition from how it's used across those assets. Prompt: "Draft a definition based on how these assets use it."
3. Create the term and link the relevant assets to it. Prompt: "Create a glossary term called [name] and link these assets to it."

## 2. What you'll give it

Required context:
- The business concept to bootstrap (and its aliases: LTV, CLV)
- Glossary creation permission
- A glossary to create the term in

Optional context:
- A preferred definition style (one sentence, or definition plus formula)
- Any assets to exclude, such as sandbox or test tables

## 3. What Atlan creates

Outputs:
- The set of assets that reference the concept, by name and type
- A draft definition of Customer Lifetime Value, written from that usage
- The glossary term created, with the assets linked to it

**Summary.** You edit a first draft instead of starting from a blank page, and the term ships linked to the assets that actually use it, so the definition is discoverable the moment someone lands on one of them.

**Writes to Atlan.** Changed: a new glossary term, and glossary links on the matched assets. Left untouched: the asset descriptions and the data; only the link is added.

## 4. Follow-up prompts

- **Do the next concept:** "Now the same for "active user," and note where the definition looks inconsistent across assets."
- **Sharpen the definition:** "Rewrite the definition to one sentence a new analyst would understand, and add the formula the tables use."
- **Fill the gaps:** "List assets that clearly use this concept but do not name it, so I can decide whether to link them."

## 5. Tips & troubleshooting

**Cook's note.** Let Atlan write the first draft of the definition. You edit; you don't start from a blank page.

- Match the tool to the work. Definitions read better from a model built for close reading; use a more capable model, review the draft, then create the term.
- Automate or chain it. Run it as a monthly sweep for undefined high-use concepts, so the glossary grows from real usage instead of a backlog.
- Ask what it changed. Add "list the term you created and every asset you linked." A new term and its links are worth confirming.

## Related recipes

- [Document SQL with business context](https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/document-sql-with-business-context/): Generate business-readable descriptions for SQL models from the context already in Atlan.
- [Enrich assets with your context](https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/enrich-assets-with-your-context/): Bring context that lives outside Atlan, like a spreadsheet or a Confluence page, onto your assets as owners, tags, and richer descriptions.
- [Give your dashboards context](https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/give-your-dashboards-context/): Link BI dashboards to business terms and owners so they show up in search.

[Browse all recipes](https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/) / [Set up Atlan MCP](https://docs.atlan.com/product/capabilities/atlan-ai/how-tos/remote-mcp-overview)