# unitycatalog/unitycatalog

Open, Multi-modal Catalog for Data & AI

Repository: https://github.com/unitycatalog/unitycatalog
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/unitycatalog
Homepage: https://unitycatalog.io/
Language: Java
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T17:29:15+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 86/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 86, longevity 57
- inputs: {"age_days": 811, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 13, "gap_med": 54, "n_releases_24m": 14}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3501, forks 663 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:07.440206+00:00)

## What it is
Unity Catalog is an open-source, multimodal data and AI catalog that provides a unified metadata and governance layer for tables, files, functions, and AI models across formats like Delta Lake, Apache Iceberg, Parquet, JSON, and CSV. It ships an OpenAPI-specified server and clients, is compatible with Hive metastore and Iceberg REST catalog APIs, and is a sandbox project under the LF AI & Data Foundation.

## Use cases
- catalog tables, files, functions, and AI models in one place
- replace Hive metastore with an open, multimodal catalog
- serve Iceberg REST catalog APIs to multiple compute engines
- govern and secure data and AI assets with unified access control
- vend secure credentials for lakehouse clients like Spark, DuckDB, and Trino
- self-host an open data catalog for Delta Lake and Iceberg
- manage metadata for Gen AI tools and unstructured data

## When to choose
- you need an open, engine-agnostic catalog spanning Delta Lake, Iceberg, Hudi, Parquet, JSON, and CSV
- you want unified governance for both tabular data and AI assets like models and Gen AI tools
- you need Hive metastore or Iceberg REST catalog API compatibility with an OSS server
- you want vendor-neutral metadata management backed by a broad industry ecosystem

## When to avoid
- you need a fully mature, feature-complete governance suite today - parts of governance and access control are still on the roadmap
- you only use a single engine with its own built-in catalog and don't need cross-engine interoperability
- you require a lightweight embedded catalog rather than a running server service

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: database, search-engine, auth, authorization, api-framework, http-server, cli, sdk
- domain: databases, large-language-models, analytics, big-data, apis, self-hosted, security
- platform: jvm, self-hosted, windows, cli
- tags: data-catalog, metadata-catalog, lakehouse, delta-lake, apache-iceberg, hive-metastore, iceberg-rest-catalog, governance, credential-vending, openapi, ai-assets, data-ai-governance, data-engineering, docker, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- unitycatalog/unitycatalog (main) score 86

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:07.440206+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:35:48.261918+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/unitycatalog/unitycatalog (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:07.440206+00:00, sha 8c5ad61497f7)
  - homepage: https://unitycatalog.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:29:50.715284+00:00, sha 443a2857dea9)
  - site_page: https://go.unitycatalog.io/apidocs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:29:50.717903+00:00, sha 71e521ee59e9)
  - site_page: https://go.unitycatalog.io/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:29:50.719474+00:00, sha 3aadf4f66a99)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.