Overview
The dbt Semantic Layer is a governed contract for what your metrics mean. Modus mines the environments you select — semantic models, entities, dimensions, measures, metrics, and saved queries — and serves those definitions to every agent.
What Modus reads
- 1Project
- 2Environment
- 3Semantic model
- 3Metric
- 3Saved query
- 4Entity
- 4Dimension
- 4Measure
You select the level Modus is allowed to mine. Everything below it is discovered automatically; everything outside it is never touched.
4context types mined
1agent tool groups
1connection method
3security controls
Context types
Each object Modus mines produces typed context items, addressed by their position in the hierarchy. This is what an agent actually receives.
Environment metadata
The selected dbt Cloud environment and what it exposes.
Semantic model metadata
Models with their entities, dimensions, and measures.
Metric metadata
Metric type, expression, and the measures it builds on.
Saved query metadata
Named queries the team already trusts.
Example context item
dbt_cloud_metric_metadataanalytics›prod›net_revenue
- Type
- simple metric
- Measure
- orders.net_amount (sum)
- Filter
- order_status != 'cancelled'
- Dimensions
- metric_time · region · plan_tier
- Owner
- Analytics Engineering
Common use cases
- 01
Make the dbt definition of a metric the only definition any agent can use.
- 02
Point an agent at a saved query instead of letting it improvise one.
- 03
Detect when a dashboard metric has drifted from the semantic layer.
Connection method
Connect once. Modus stores credentials in a managed secret store, rotates what it can, and never asks an agent to handle them.
Service token
A dbt Cloud service token scoped to the environments you nominate.
Security & governance
Governance is applied once, at the layer every agent runs through, so it holds no matter which agent asks.
Metadata-first mining
Modus learns from structure and usage, not bulk data. Raw records stay in your environment; only the metadata needed to understand the system is stored.
Scoped selection
You choose exactly which schemas, folders, spaces, or boards Modus is allowed to see. Nothing outside the selection is ever mined.
Read-only by default
Mining runs on a read-only credential. Any tool that writes back is a separate, explicitly granted action.
