Getting started

Anchor Keel is one platform with a shared core and licensed modules (Platform and modules). You connect a database. Keel reads its schema, profiles bounded samples and proposes what the data means: joins, facts and dimensions, semantic types, sensitive columns and metrics. You review those proposals.

This journey follows Keel Semantic, the launch module, which every tenant has. Keel generates a versioned model from the accepted proposals. Once you release it, the same governed metrics are served to BI tools, applications and AI agents.

Keel Migrate is a licensed module. It maps a source to a target, generates the code, proves the result and can run the migration through your private agent. If your tenant is licensed (the local demo tenant is), start with Plan and prove once a source and a target are connected and scanned.

The journey

Step	What happens	Where
1. Connect a source	Register a read-only connection; Keel tests reachability, authentication, metadata access, least privilege and query-log access.	Sources
2. Run the first scan	Harvest → Profile → Relationships → Classify, streamed live; then model generation and a strategy report.	Home, Discovery
3. Review proposals	Accept, reject or undo joins, table classifications and sensitive-column findings, each with its evidence.	Review
4. Generate a model	Keel lays the accepted proposals onto a keel/proposals-… branch and opens a change request.	Change requests, Workspace, Strategy
5. Release it	Checks pass, a reviewer approves, you merge and publish a SemVer release that serving endpoints and exports point at.	Change request

After the first release, continue with the guides: serve the model through the semantic query API or MCP, add data quality and glossary terms, and certify metrics.

Two ways to try it

First sign in and set up your workspace: single sign-on, getting an account, the first-run wizard and the getting-started checklist on Home.

• The demo tenant — one command builds a complete, governed demo on the local stack (sample source, released model, glossary, rules and an incident, a policy, a serving endpoint and API key). See The demo tenant.
• Your own database — run Keel locally and follow the five steps above.

Who does what

Keel has six workspace roles (Owner, Admin, Steward, Modeler, Analyst, Viewer). Connecting sources needs Owner or Admin; reviewing proposals and editing models needs Modeler or above; approving glossary terms, certifying and writing access policies needs Steward or above; Analysts query; Viewers read. The full table is in the permissions reference.