---
title: "Keep asset metadata fresh - Atlan MCP Cookbook"
url: "https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/keep-asset-metadata-fresh/"
description: "Catch stale certifications, missing owners, and outdated descriptions early."
---

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Recipe 18 in [The Atlan MCP Cookbook](https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/). Catch stale certifications, missing owners, and outdated descriptions early.

Use case: Govern & keep trusted / Action: Make changes / Persona: Data Governance Lead / 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.** Metadata drifts. In the analytics schema, certifications from last year are still marked current, a few owners have since left, and some descriptions describe a table that has since been reshaped. You want to surface what needs attention before the drift confuses someone downstream.

The ask:
- Tables in analytics certified more than 6 months ago
- A review of which descriptions and owners look out of date
- A warning announcement on the ones that need recertification

Hero prompt:

> Find all tables in the analytics schema certified more than 6 months ago. Review their current descriptions and owners, and flag any that need recertification with a warning announcement.

Step by step:

1. Search for assets with stale or incomplete metadata. Prompt: "Find tables in the [schema] schema certified more than [6 months] ago."
2. Compare what's changed against what's documented. Prompt: "Show which descriptions or owners look out of date."
3. Update the fields, and announce it if the asset is in active use. Prompt: "Flag the ones needing recertification with a warning announcement."

## 2. What you'll give it

Required context:
- The scope to check (a schema, a domain, or the whole estate)
- Your staleness threshold (certified more than 6 months ago)
- Permission to post announcements and update metadata

Optional context:
- A definition of "in active use" (queried in the last 30 days, say), so announcements go only where they matter
- The recertification owner to route flags to

## 3. What Atlan creates

Outputs:
- A list of analytics tables certified more than 6 months ago
- A read on which descriptions and owners look out of date
- A warning announcement on the tables that need recertification

**Summary.** Drift becomes a short, ranked worklist instead of a surprise. Anyone who opens a flagged table sees the recertification notice in context.

**Writes to Atlan.** Changed: a warning announcement on the flagged tables (and any field you approved). Left untouched: certifications themselves, which stay as they are until a human recertifies.

## 4. Follow-up prompts

- **Narrow to what matters:** "Of the flagged tables, show only the ones queried in the last 30 days (where usage data exists); ignore the dormant ones."
- **Draft the recert checklist:** "For each flagged table, list what a reviewer should confirm before recertifying it."
- **Route it:** "Group the flags by owning team so I can send each team its own list."

## 5. Tips & troubleshooting

**Cook's note.** Schedule this monthly. Drift is easier to fix a little at a time than all at once.

- Match the tool to the work. This posts announcements; run it where you can see the flagged list before anything is posted, and confirm the scope.
- Automate or chain it. This is the recipe most worth putting on a schedule: a monthly sweep keeps the estate honest without anyone remembering to run it.
- Ask what it changed. Add "list every asset you posted an announcement on." That is your monthly drift log.

## Related recipes

- [Score assets for AI readiness](https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/score-assets-for-ai-readiness/): Rate assets on documentation, ownership, and quality before they enter AI pipelines.
- [Gamify your context](https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/gamify-your-context/): Generate per-domain enrichment scorecards to motivate metadata contributions.
- [Sync metadata across environments](https://atlan.com/mcp-cookbook/sync-metadata-across-environments/): Keep descriptions, tags, and custom metadata aligned across dev, staging, and prod.

[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)