OpenLineage

Spec sheet

Purpose

OpenLineage is an open framework for collecting and analyzing data lineage metadata about datasets, jobs, and runs.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Intended users

The project describes its audience as organizations that rely on data in their operations and organizations building products or technology to manage data and its processing.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Deployment

The project describes simple deployments with single consumers and complex deployments with multiple consumers.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Integrations

The documentation lists integrations including Apache Airflow, Flink, Hive, Spark, dbt, Feast, Great Expectations, SQL, Presto, and Trino.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Security

The legacy Airflow integration is explicitly described as no longer receiving security updates.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Airflow version support

The Airflow integration has moved to the official provider; the legacy integration for Airflow versions earlier than 2.7 is no longer maintained and receives no bug fixes, security updates, or new features.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Backend requirement

OpenLineage is a specification with integrations, examples, and tools, rather than a metadata server; the FAQ points to Marquez as a server that can receive and analyze its events.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Capability limit

The integrations capability matrix is explicitly marked incomplete, and not every mechanism gathers every metadata facet.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Client libraries

OpenLineage provides Python and Java clients for creating and emitting lineage events.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Community support

The project directs users to its Slack community for help and provides open technical steering committee meetings to discuss project updates.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Custom integrations

Python and Java clients can emit events to HTTP, Kafka, and other consumers, and the project provides a SQL parser available as Rust, Java, or Python libraries.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

dbt modes

The dbt integration can parse generated artifacts after a run or consume structured JSON logs in real time; artifact parsing waits for the dbt command to finish.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Event types

The specification includes runtime job run state events and design-time job and dataset metadata events.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Extensible model

Its model represents datasets, jobs, and runs, and can be extended with user-defined facets.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Integration limits

The integrations capability matrix is explicitly incomplete, and the compatibility matrix lists minimum versions for some supported platforms.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Not a metadata server

OpenLineage is a specification with integrations, examples, and tools; the FAQ points to Marquez for receiving and analyzing events.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Open standard

The project describes its specification as an open standard that enables systems to interoperate with lineage metadata.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Project governance

OpenLineage is an LF AI & Data Foundation project, and its site welcomes contributions and community feedback.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Security and compliance

The opened official pages do not state a security certification or compliance claim.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Spark metadata

The Spark integration uses SparkListener events to collect job and dataset metadata from sources including filesystems, JDBC backends, and data warehouses.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Standard

Its extensible open standard defines a generic model for dataset, job, and run entities, with user-defined facets for additional metadata.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Transport options

The clients can emit events to HTTP, Kafka, and other consumers.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

What it tracks

It tracks metadata about datasets, jobs, and runs to help identify root causes and understand the impact of changes.Read 11 Oct 2026 · openlineage.io

Where Specifiction places it

• Data Lineage Tools#28 of 437.1