Agent uses natural language interaction and large language models to complete data integration, data development, and data governance tasks. It automates workflows from requirements to results, helping streamline your data workflows.
Agent overview
Agent is built into DataWorks. Unlike Agent based on third-party clients, you can use it directly within DataWorks modules without installing extra software or performing complex configurations.
Agent follows a describe your needs, get your results interaction model. You describe your requirements in natural language, and Agent generates the corresponding code and configurations. The Agent workflow is as follows:
Access
Log on to the DataWorks console. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Data Development and O&M > DataStudio. Select your workspace and go to DataStudio.
Quick start
Step 1: Open Agent Chat and switch to Agent mode
On the DataStudio page, click the
icon in the upper-right corner of the top navigation bar to open Data Agent Chat. In the lower-left corner of the dialog box, switch to Agent mode.
Step 2: Select an Agent
Type / in the input box to open the Agent menu and select the Agent for your task. The available Agent types are: Data Integration Agent, DataMap Agent, DataStudio Agent, Data governance Agent, and Workbench Agent.
In the corresponding product module, DataWorks automatically uses the matching Agent. You do not need to manually select one.
Step 3: Add context (optional)
Type @ in the dialog box or click the @ icon in the lower-right corner to select and add context. Context provides the Agent with richer background information.
The supported context types are:
Table: Reference the metadata of one or more tables.
Node/Code File: Reference the code within a specific node.
Data collection: Reference a data collection from Data Map.
Rules: Temporarily apply one or more rules to the current conversation.
Local File: Upload a local document to provide background information.
Step 4: Switch large language models (optional)
By default, Agent uses Auto mode. In this mode, the Agent performs intelligent model scheduling based on the task scenario and supports seamless switching between multiple models. For more details, see Supported models.
You can also click the
icon at the bottom of the dialog box to select a specific model.
Step 5: Start the conversation
Enter your request in the dialog box. You can refine your intent through multiple turns of conversation, such as by asking follow-up questions or providing additional details, until the Agent produces the desired result.
Use cases
Agent covers use cases across data integration, data development, data governance, Data Map, and data O&M. The following table describes each scenario and typical tasks to help you choose the right Agent.
| Agent scenario | Description | Typical tasks |
| Data Integration | Describe data synchronization requirements in natural language. The system parses the semantics and generates the corresponding task configuration, including source and destination data sources, table schema mappings, field filters, partitioning strategies, and scheduling parameters. | Create offline or real-time synchronization tasks between heterogeneous data sources |
| Data Development | Natural language-based ETL development that covers requirement analysis, code generation, workflow creation, and deployment. | Build data processing workflows with generated code and configured dependencies |
| Data O&M | Health assessments and issue diagnostics for task instances. Integrates multi-dimensional analysis including dependency chains, resource levels, historical run trends, change impacts, log anomalies, and Data Quality to generate structured diagnostic reports. | Diagnose failed task instances and generate diagnostic reports |
| Data Map | AI-driven natural language interaction for exploring metadata across massive datasets. | Search for tables by business intent and explore data lineage |
| Data Governance | The DataWorks Data Governance Agent helps enterprises transition from proactive to autonomous data governance. Issue commands in natural language instead of performing complex analysis and extensive form configuration. The Agent converts commands into precise governance actions and executes them automatically. | Configure quality monitoring rules and remediate quality issues |
Use case 1 - Data Integration agent
Description: You can describe data synchronization requirements in natural language, such as Chinese or English. The system automatically parses the semantics and generates the corresponding data synchronization task configuration. This includes the source and destination data sources, table schema mappings, field filtering conditions, partitioning strategies, and scheduling parameters.
Procedure:
In the dialog box, enter
/and select Data Integration Agent.Describe your data synchronization requirement, including the source, destination, table names, and synchronization method. For example: "Create an offline synchronization task to sync the MySQL table
ods_user_info_dto the MaxCompute tableods_user_info_d."The Agent parses your requirement and automatically populates information such as the data source and table mappings to create a synchronization node.
After the node is created, review and modify it as needed.
Use case 2 - Data Development agent
Description: Offers a natural language-based ETL development experience that covers the entire process from requirement analysis and code generation to workflow creation and deployment.
Procedure:
Describe your data development requirement in natural language and add context as needed. For example: "Build a user profile analysis workflow."
The Agent breaks down the task into multiple steps, such as creating nodes, generating code, and configuring dependencies, and then executes them.
For the generated node code, review the changes and choose to keep or discard them.
Use case 3 - Data O&M Agent
Description: Offers comprehensive health assessments and issue diagnostics for task instances. By integrating multi-dimensional analysis including dependency chains, resource levels, historical run trends, change impacts, log anomalies, and Data Quality, it automatically generates structured diagnostic reports.
For more information about the Data O&M Agent, see Data O&M Agent.
Use case 4 - Data Map agent
Description: Improves the efficiency of finding and understanding data. Through AI-driven natural language interaction, you can quickly explore metadata across various scenarios in massive datasets.
Core capabilities:
Natural language search: Lets you ask questions in natural language to quickly locate target data based on business intent without needing precise keywords. For example, "Find the aggregate tables related to user activity."
Automatic scope adjustment: You can specify a scope in the conversation, and the Agent will automatically understand the semantics and quickly locate data within that scope. For example, "In the adm_bi project, find tables related to business operations."
In-depth data understanding: You can ask follow-up questions about target data to quickly get details such as data lineage, owners, and field definitions. For example, "What are the direct downstream dependencies of the @dws_bi_metric_di table? Who would be affected by changes to it?"
Use case 5 - Data Governance agent
Description: The DataWorks Data Governance Agent helps enterprises transition from proactive to autonomous data governance. You can issue commands in natural language instead of performing complex analysis and extensive form configuration. The Agent converts these commands into precise governance actions, applies expert-level configurations, and executes them automatically.
Core capabilities:
Quality rule configuration: Helps you configure quality monitoring rules for specified key tables by using natural language. The Data Governance Agent analyzes the field types, business semantics, and importance of a specified table to automatically recommend and configure appropriate monitoring rules, such as primary key uniqueness, non-null constraints, and enum value range checks. This process eliminates the need for extensive data exploration and manual rule configuration.
Example: Automatically generate quality rules for the
*dim_user_info*core user dimension table.Example: For tables that start with
*ods_*, automatically configure quality rules related to table row counts.
Quality issue governance: For quality issues automatically identified by the system in the data asset governance module, such as "Frequently accessed tables without quality rules" or "Tables produced by high-priority baseline tasks without quality rules," you can provide governance requirements in natural language. The system then automatically analyzes and remediates the issues.
Example: Find frequently accessed tables that have no quality rules, then recommend and configure them.
Example: Help me resolve issues under the quality dimension.
Key capabilities
Storage management
The DataStudio Agent supports creating nodes and files in either a project directory or your personal directory. To ensure accurate storage management:
Storage Location Settings: In the Data Agent Settings Center, configure The default storage path for generating code files. For more information, see Storage settings.
Conflict resolution mechanism: If the generated node type is inconsistent with the current directory's rules (for example, if you request to create a data integration node in your personal directory), the Agent triggers a confirmation prompt and waits for your verification before proceeding.
Complex task handling
For development requirements with complex logic, the Agent provides status feedback throughout the entire lifecycle:
To-do list: The Agent breaks down complex tasks into multiple child steps and displays them as a to-do list. As the execution progresses, the status of each item is automatically updated.
Execution summary: At the end of the workflow, the Agent compiles and outputs a summary report for the entire task. This report consolidates completed operations and generated resources, making the review process more efficient.
Token and performance statistics
After a task is completed, the Agent provides quantitative metrics to help you assess execution efficiency and the scale of model calls:
Task duration statistics: The system automatically records and displays the total time from the start to the end of the current task, allowing you to evaluate the efficiency of the automated process.
Token consumption: Click
to check the number of input tokens and output tokens generated during the interaction.
Intelligent model scheduling
The Agent's intelligent model allocation mechanism creates an intent-driven development experience, so you no longer need to choose the underlying model.
Automatic model allocation (Auto mode): By default, the Agent operates in Auto mode. In this mode, the Agent identifies and breaks down your development intent, and automatically dispatches the optimal model to handle different sub-tasks.
Dynamic multi-model coordination (Auto mode): In Auto mode, the Agent can orchestrate across different models. Based on the real-time needs of a task, the Agent flexibly switches between multiple models within a single conversation to ensure that each part of a complex task is matched with the most suitable model.
Manual model switching: You can switch from Auto mode and specify a different model for task processing for specific scenarios.
References
To learn about custom Agent features, see Agent based on third-party clients.