The task
Scenario. orders_fact exists in both production and staging, and their metadata has drifted apart: production has a good description and tags, staging is half-blank, and nobody remembers which is right. You want them aligned, with one environment clearly the one that wins.
The ask
- orders_fact in both production and staging
- A side-by-side of their descriptions, tags, and custom metadata
- The production metadata synced onto staging where staging is missing fields
Hero prompt
Find the orders_fact table in both production and staging. Compare their descriptions, tags, and custom metadata, then sync the production metadata to staging where staging is missing fields.
Step by step
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Find the asset and its counterpart in the other environment.
Find <table> in both <prod> and <staging>.
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Compare the metadata fields side by side.
Compare their descriptions, tags, and custom metadata.
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Apply the more complete metadata to the environment that's missing it.
Sync the <prod> metadata to <staging> where <staging> is missing fields.
What you'll give it
Required context
- The asset and its two environments (orders_fact in prod and staging)
- Which environment wins (production, here)
- Permission to update metadata in the target environment
Optional context
- Which fields to sync and which to leave environment-specific (a staging-only note, say)
- A direction rule, if some fields should flow staging to prod instead
What Atlan creates
Outputs
- The two copies of orders_fact, matched across environments
- A field-by-field comparison of descriptions, tags, and custom metadata
- The production values written onto staging wherever staging was missing them
Summary. The same asset now reads the same way in both places, so a developer in staging sees the context production already has, and governance does not depend on which environment you opened.
Changed: the missing fields on the staging copy. Left untouched: the production copy, and any staging field that already had a value; nothing is overwritten.
Follow-up prompts
Keep going once the first answer lands.
Do the whole schema
Run the same comparison for every table in the orders schema and sync the gaps.
Show the conflicts
Where prod and staging both have a value but they disagree, list them for me instead of syncing.
Check dev too
Add dev to the comparison and show which environment is furthest behind.
Tips & troubleshooting
Decide which environment wins before you run it, or you'll ping-pong edits.
- Match the tool to the work. Run it where you can see the comparison before the sync, so you can catch a field that should stay environment-specific.
- Automate or chain it. Once the winning environment is fixed, schedule the sync so staging never drifts far from production again.
- Ask what it changed. Add "list every staging field you wrote and its new value." That is your diff for the sync.