Discover and Manage Data with Catalog in Autonomous AI Database

Use Catalog in Data Studio to browse, search, discover, inspect, and act on data in Oracle Autonomous AI Database and its connected systems. The Catalog Tool provides a multi-catalog view of data and metadata so you can find local database objects, discover connected data assets, inspect entity details, and select follow-up actions such as load, link, query, share, export, gather statistics, or edit table definitions.

Use this Autonomous AI Database topic as the entry point for understanding when and how to use Catalog with Autonomous AI Database. See Data Studio Documentation for complete reference.

When to use Catalog

Use Catalog when you need a single discovery point for data that is stored in Autonomous AI Database or connected to it.

For example, use it to:

Find database objects such as tables, views, columns, analytic views, packages, procedures, shares, share recipients, catalogs, cloud storage links, live table feeds, and share providers.
Discover connected data assets in other Autonomous AI Databases, databases connected by database links, cloud storage systems, registered OCI Data Catalog or AWS Glue catalogs, shared data such as Delta Sharing, and Iceberg catalogs.
Preview data before using it and decide whether to load, link, or feed the data into the local Autonomous AI Database.
Inspect entity details, including preview, description, lineage, impact, statistics, job report, and DDL, depending on the entity type.
Improve discovery with metadata enrichment by adding tags and custom properties to catalog entities. Tags and custom properties help users search, filter, classify, and provide business context for downstream capabilities such as AI agents, natural-language-to-SQL, automation, and governance workflows.
Mount and manage additional catalogs over supported sources so users can search across more than the local Autonomous AI Database catalog.
Query remote catalogs and databases by using simplified SQL syntax to discover and query external data in place, without first moving it into Autonomous AI Database.
Perform table actions such as registering to Cloud Links, exporting to cloud storage, gathering statistics, editing table definitions, creating shares, creating Analytic Views, or opening a table in Data Analysis.

Use Data Load directly when you already know which data source you want to load or link. Use Data Analysis directly when you already know which table or Analytic View you want to analyze. Use Catalog when discovery, inspection, lineage, metadata context, or cross-catalog search is the starting point.

How Catalog works with Autonomous AI Database

Catalog runs from Database Actions for Autonomous AI Database. Database Actions is bundled with each Autonomous AI Database instance and provides development, data, administration, monitoring, and download features. In Database Actions, the Data Studio area includes Data Load, Catalog, Data Insights, Data Transforms, and Data Analysis. See Connect with Built-In Oracle Database Actions for more details.

The local Autonomous AI Database catalog is available as the default catalog. You can also mount additional catalogs over other sources, including other Autonomous AI Databases, existing database links, Data Share providers, AWS Glue, OCI Data Catalog, and Iceberg catalogs. After a catalog is mounted, users can select it from the Catalog interface, search it, inspect entities, and use available actions based on the entity type and privileges. See Manage Catalogs for more details.

For non-ADMIN users, Data Studio tools, including Catalog, require the DWROLE database role. If the Catalog card is not visible in Database Actions, the database user may not have the required role.

Before using Catalog, verify the following:

You can access Database Actions for your Autonomous AI Database. Database Actions access is schema-based, and the ADMIN user can enable Database Actions access for other database users.
Your database user has the required Data Studio role. For Catalog, Data Load, Data Analysis, and Data Insights, non-ADMIN users require DWROLE.
To use multi-catalog capabilities in the existing ADB-S Catalog workflow, the user needs the ORACLE_CATALOGS role. Without this role, the user is limited to mounting only the local connected Autonomous AI Database catalog.
To mount another Autonomous AI Database as a catalog, the user needs the privileges required to create database links and directories. The Catalog documentation notes that ADMIN has CREATE DATABASE LINK and CREATE ANY DIRECTORY and can grant those privileges to other users.
To discover cloud objects and use cloud-service integrations, configure the required credentials in Data Studio Settings. Data Studio Settings includes cloud object store access for OCI, AWS, and Azure credentials, and AI profile settings used by Catalog features such as generated table descriptions. See Data Studio Settings for reference.

Open Catalog

To open Catalog:

Open Database Actions for your Autonomous AI Database.
Select the Data Studio tab.
Select Catalog.
Use the search field, quick filters, faceted filters, catalog selector, and saved searches to find entities.
Select an entity to view details, or use the entity actions menu to load, link, query, share, export, gather statistics, edit, register to Cloud Link, or perform other available actions.

What you can do in Catalog

Area	Use it to
Catalog home page	Search local and connected data assets, view recently accessed objects, use search suggestions, select catalogs and schemas, and filter results. See About the Catalog Page.
Browse and search	Search for assets by name, select quick filters such as Tables and Views, Data Objects, Files, OCI, Connections, or All, and discover data before loading, linking, or feeding it into the local database. See Browse and Search Catalogs.
Sort and filter	Sort entities by name or update time and restrict displayed search results with filter suggestions. By default, system tables and private tables are not displayed unless enabled in Catalog Settings. See Sorting and Flitering Entities.
Faceted filters	Filter by entity categories such as data, share, connection, dictionary, and OCI entity types. See Filter Entities.
Entity display and actions	View entity search results, auto generate descriptions when an AI profile is configured, open entity details, gather statistics, create shares, register to Cloud Link, create Analytic Views, query, export, edit, or drop supported table and view entities. See Display Entity Search.
Catalog Settings	Manage general display settings, show system or private tables, set page size, create query scopes, save searches, and customize the Catalog page appearance. See Catalog Settings.
Metadata enrichment	Add tags and custom properties to entities so users and downstream tools can search, filter, classify, and understand data assets more effectively. See Metadata Enrichment.
Manage Catalogs	Mount additional catalogs over other Autonomous AI Databases, existing database links, Data Share providers, AWS Glue, OCI Data Catalog, and Iceberg catalogs. See Manage Catalogs.
Inline Delta Share load	Load a Delta Share from Catalog without leaving the Catalog workflow. See Inline Data Load of Delta Share from the Catalog Tool.
Query remote catalogs and databases	Use SQL to discover and query data from mounted external catalogs in place, without first moving the data into Autonomous AI Database. See Query Remote Catalogs and Databases.
Entity details	View preview, describe, lineage, impact, classifications, optimization details, statistics, job reports, DDL, and entity-specific actions where available. See Viewing Entity Details.
Register to Cloud Links	Register a table for remote read-only access and define the access scope, such as region, tenancy, compartment, pool, or specific Autonomous AI Database OCIDs. See Register to Cloud Links for Accessing Data.
Export Data to Cloud	Export table data from the Browse Catalog page to cloud object storage in CSV, JSON, Parquet, or XML format. See Export Data to Cloud.
Gather Statistics	Generate table and column statistics such as table size, row count, column count, compressed size, number of distinct values, null counts, and data distribution histograms. See Gathering Statistics for Tables.
Edit Tables	Create or edit table objects through the Edit Table wizard, including columns, keys, indexes, constraints, comments, storage, external table properties, materialized view options, DDL, and output. See Editing Tables.
DBMS_CATALOG	Use PL/SQL to manage catalogs programmatically, including mounting and unmounting catalogs, managing catalog properties, credentials, schemas, tables, and catalog metadata. See Manage Catalogs with DBMS_CATALOG.