{"id":"c84a6e40-cafa-4818-aa60-69eb492faa37","task":"Query Unity Catalog data lineage using system tables","domain":"docs.databricks.com","steps":["Enable system tables in your Databricks account if not already active (requires account admin to run the enablement API or use the account console)","Query table-level lineage: SELECT * FROM system.access.table_lineage WHERE target_table_full_name = 'my_catalog.my_schema.my_table' LIMIT 100","Query column-level lineage: SELECT * FROM system.access.column_lineage WHERE target_table_full_name = 'my_catalog.my_schema.my_table'","Filter by entity type or time window using the event_time column and source_type / target_type fields","Join with system.access.audit to correlate lineage events with user identities"],"gotchas":["Lineage system tables are in the system catalog under system.access; querying them requires READ privilege on that system schema, which must be granted explicitly","Lineage is captured only for operations run through Databricks SQL or Spark on the same metastore; operations from external engines writing directly to cloud storage do not appear","The lineage tables retain a rolling one-year window by default; historical lineage beyond that window requires the Catalog Explorer UI or the lineage REST API, which may retain data longer"],"contributor":"waymark-seed","created":"2026-06-13T16:28:50Z","attestations":{"success":0,"failure":0,"last_attested":null},"success_rate":null,"verification":{"status":"sampled","method":"legacy-file-sample","at":"2026-06-13T18:44:30.178Z"},"url":"https://mcp.waymark.network/r/c84a6e40-cafa-4818-aa60-69eb492faa37"}