Service

A Service is a catalog entry for an external service that exposes callable APIs — an MCP server, a REST API, a GraphQL API, a gRPC service, and so on. A Service groups the APIs it exposes, carries the full interface definition, and sits between the Repository that produces it and the Applications/agents that consume it in the repo → service → api → app → dataset chain.

The specific kind of service is recorded with the standard subTypes aspect (e.g. MCP, REST_API, OPEN_API, GRPC). Note that a Service holds only catalog information (identity, description, interface); operational configuration such as authentication for DataHub's Ask DataHub integration lives separately in GlobalSettings.aiPlugins, not on the entity.

Identity

Services are identified by a single field:

• id: A unique identifier for the service, such as glean-search, internal-tools, or weather-api.

An example URN is urn:li:service:glean-search.

Important Capabilities

Service Properties

The serviceProperties aspect holds catalog identity and the service's place in the graph:

• displayName: Name shown in the UI and search results, searchable with autocomplete.
• description: What the service provides.
• lifecycle: Lifecycle stage — EXPERIMENTAL, PRODUCTION, or DEPRECATED — rendered as a badge so consumers can see at a glance whether the service is safe to depend on.
• apis: The APIs this service composes/exposes (ServiceComposesApi). This is a lineage edge with the API downstream of the service, so endpoints nest correctly under their service.
• sourceRepository: The Repository the service is produced from (SourcedFrom).

Service Definition

The serviceDefinition aspect carries the full interface document — the source of truth from which the operation-level API entities are parsed. It records:

• format: How to parse rawSpec — OPENAPI, GRAPHQL_SDL, GRPC_PROTO, ASYNCAPI, JSON_SCHEMA, or OTHER.
• rawSpec: The entire spec document, verbatim. Stored as a LargeString (optionally compressed) so large specs fit under the aspect-size limit; readers receive the decompressed text. Rendered read-only on the service profile's Definition tab.
• version / externalUrl: Optional spec version and a link to the canonical hosted source.

It is kept as its own aspect (rather than a field on serviceProperties) because the spec blob is large and only needed on the profile, whereas serviceProperties is fetched on every search card and header.

MCP Server Properties

For services of subtype MCP, the mcpServerProperties aspect holds connection details: the server url, the transport (HTTP, SSE, or WEBSOCKET), an optional connection timeout, and any non-auth customHeaders (e.g. X-Tenant-ID). Authentication headers are configured in GlobalSettings.aiPlugins, not here.

Health and Governance

Services surface operational health through the shared incidents subsystem (incidentsSummary) and support the standard ownership, tags, and status aspects.