CLI-based Data Governance Alpha

We are excited to announce CLI-based data governance workflows in RudderStack. Our new CLI utility and other features make it easy to manage your data catalog and tracking plans as code.

With CLI-based data governance, you can bring the same rigor and process to your data governance workflows that you apply to other development workflows, giving you more control, increased visibility, and ultimately better data quality.

This feature is in Alpha, where we work with early users and customers to test new features and get feedback before making them generally available.

Note that these features are functional but can change as we improve them. Contact the Product team if you have any questions.

Key features

Some key features of CLI-based tracking plans management include:

Declarative YAML configuration

• Define your events, including their names and descriptions, in YAML format.
• Create reusable properties with advanced validation rules like min/max length, patterns (through regular expressions), and enums.
• Define tracking plan rules by associating events with required properties using a structured reference system.
• Reuse property definitions across multiple events with a standardized path reference system.

Powerful CLI tool

The new workflow comes with a powerful Rudder CLI tool that lets you:

• Create, update, and delete data catalog and tracking plan resources via command line.
• Verify your YAML configurations before pushing changes.
• Sync changes in your local files or GitHub repo to RudderStack.

The CLI utility currently only supports pushing to RudderStack, so we recommend starting with a clean workspace (pulling existing assets from the UI is in the works!). Reach out to our team if you would like us to create a dedicated workspace for testing. See our list of limitations to learn more about current differences between the CLI and UI.

Git Integration & CI/CD support

• Leverage GitHub Actions to automatically validate and deploy tracking plans from your repository.
• Implement version control by tracking changes, managing branches, and reviewing modifications through standard Git workflows.
• Review any tracking plan changes before they reach production.

Use Cases

This feature is particularly valuable for teams who:

• Manage large tracking plans with hundreds of events and properties.
• Need better integration with existing development workflows.
• Want to maintain consistent tracking standards across multiple applications.
• Require version control and review processes for data governance.

Get started

1. Install the Rudder CLI tool in your preferred environment.
2. Generate a workspace-level Service Access Token in the RudderStack dashboard with the following permissions to manage Data Catalog and Tracking Plans:

• If you’re on Free or self-hosted plan, or for testing and development only: Generate a Personal Access Token with Read-Write role

Any action authenticated by a Personal Access Token will break if the user generating the token is removed from the organization or there is a breaking change to their permissions.

Token permissions for legacy RBAC system

If you are on the legacy Permissions Management (RBAC) system, your workspace-level Service Access Token should have minimum Admin permissions.

See Generate a workspace-level Service Access Token for steps to create the token.

3. Initialize a new Tracking Plan project with YAML definitions. Then, sync the changes to your workspace.
4. Automate Tracking Plan management using GitHub Actions.