Story

Hi HN, I’ve been working on https://datadef.io, a tool to help data team (engineer, architect, project manager) make sense of their data universe.

The problem:

- Data models (dbt, SQL, warehouses) often grow into a tangled mess of tables, joins, and undocumented assumptions. - Lineage is either scattered across tools or missing entirely. - Documentation is usually an afterthought (and gets outdated fast).

Datadef.io aims to fix that by providing:

- Interactive canvas to map tables, relationships, and indicators. - Automatic lineage visualization to trace dependencies. - Metadata management: define table/column-level details, ownership, and KPIs. - AI-generated documentation that stays in sync with your models. - Export/share features so asset managers, analysts, and other teams don’t get lost in spreadsheets or PDFs.

It’s still early, and I’d love feedback from the HN community. In particular:

What’s missing for you in lineage/metadata/documentation tools?

How would you want to integrate a tool like this into your workflow (dbt, Databricks, Power BI, etc.)?

I’d really appreciate your thoughts, feature requests, and criticism.

Thanks!