What is a data contract?

A data contract is a document that defines the ownership, structure, semantics, quality, and terms of use for exchanging data between a data producer and their consumers. Think of an API, but for data. Data contracts specify schemas, data quality rules, SLAs, and metadata to ensure reliable data exchange.

What is the Open Data Contract Standard (ODCS)?

The Open Data Contract Standard (ODCS) is the industry standard for data contracts, maintained by Bitol, a Linux Foundation project. ODCS 3.1 provides a standardized YAML format for defining data contracts including schema definitions, quality rules, ownership, and terms of use.

Why do data contracts matter?

Data contracts matter for three key reasons: 1) Communication - they bring data producers and consumers together to capture domain knowledge and specify expectations. 2) Trust - they enable automatic verification that data conforms to agreed specifications. 3) Discovery - they provide metadata for data marketplaces, enabling data consumers and AI agents to find and understand data products.

What is the Data Contract CLI?

The Data Contract CLI is an open-source command-line tool that enforces data contracts and detects schema drift. It supports all major data platforms including Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, BigQuery, and Azure. It can be used in CI/CD pipelines, Python scripts, as a GitHub Action, or as a web server.

How do I create a data contract?

You can create data contracts using the free Data Contract Editor, which provides a visual interface for creating and editing contracts with live HTML preview. Alternatively, use the Data Contract Excel Template or write YAML files following the Open Data Contract Standard specification.

What is the difference between a data contract and an API contract?

While API contracts (like OpenAPI) define how to call a service and what responses to expect, data contracts define the structure, quality, semantics, and terms of use for data itself. Data contracts focus on data products - datasets exchanged between producers and consumers - rather than service interfaces.

What should a data contract include?

A comprehensive data contract should include: 1) Basic metadata (name, version, description, owner), 2) Schema definitions (tables, columns, data types), 3) Data quality rules (not null, unique, format validations), 4) Team information (owner, support contacts), 5) Terms of use and SLAs, 6) Semantic definitions and business context.

How do data contracts relate to data mesh?

Data contracts are a core component of data mesh architecture. In data mesh, domain teams own and publish data as products. Data contracts serve as the interface specification between data producers (domain teams) and data consumers, enabling decentralized data ownership while maintaining quality and governance standards.

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