Custom Drive Connector

Just like other services in OpenMetadata (Database, Pipelines, Dashboards, Messaging, and so on), it’s possible to create a Custom Drive Connector to bring metadata from a storage or file system-like service into OpenMetadata. In this guide, we’ll walk through how to implement your own Custom Drive Connector by extending the ingestion framework. The implementation pattern follows other service types closely, making the transition smooth for anyone familiar with the ecosystem.

Review the tested Custom Drive source for a complete source implementation.

Watch OpenMetadata’s Webinar on Custom Connectors to get more context on how to build these integrations.

Steps to Set Up a Custom Drive Connector

Follow these steps to build and register a Custom Drive Connector.

Step 1 - Prepare Your Drive Connector

A Custom Drive Connector is a Python class that inherits from:


from metadata.ingestion.api.steps import Source

It must implement required methods such as:

prepare
_iter
test_connection (optional but recommended so the UI can validate access)

custom_drive/
  my_drive_connector.py

Inside my_drive_connector.py, define your class:

class MyDriveConnector(Source):
    ...
    def _iter(self):
        ...

_iter is a generator that produces the CreateEntityRequest instances expected by the ingestion framework.

For more on the ingestion framework, refer to the OpenMetadata Ingestion Workflow docs.

Step 2 - Yield Drive Data as Entities

You need to yield CreateEntityRequest objects wrapped in an Either type. This pattern handles both successful entity creation and errors. Import necessary types:

from metadata.ingestion.api.models import Either, StackTraceError
from metadata.generated.schema.api.data.createDirectory import CreateDirectoryRequest
from metadata.generated.schema.api.data.createFile import CreateFileRequest
from metadata.generated.schema.api.data.createSpreadsheet import CreateSpreadsheetRequest
from metadata.generated.schema.api.data.createWorksheet import CreateWorksheetRequest

Example usage:

for directory in self.drive_client.list_directories():
    try:
        yield Either(
            right=CreateDirectoryRequest(
                name=directory.name,
                description=directory.description,
                parent=directory.parent_fqn,
                href=directory.href,
            )
        )
    except Exception as exc:
        yield Either(
            left=StackTraceError(
                name="Drive Directory Ingestion Error",
                error=str(exc),
                stack_trace=traceback.format_exc(),
            )
        )

for file_metadata in self.drive_client.list_files():
    yield Either(
        right=CreateFileRequest(
            name=file_metadata.name,
            description=file_metadata.description,
            fileFormats=file_metadata.file_formats,
            parent=file_metadata.parent_directory_fqn,
            size=file_metadata.size,
        )
    )

Extend the same pattern with CreateSpreadsheetRequest and CreateWorksheetRequest if your Drive service exposes those concepts.

Step 3 - Package Your Custom Drive Connector

To use the connector, package it as a Python module. A minimal setup.py may look like:

from setuptools import setup, find_packages

setup(
    name="custom_drive_connector",
    version="0.1",
    packages=find_packages(),
    install_requires=[],
)

Build the package:


python setup.py sdist

Step 4 - Update the Ingestion Image

To run your Custom Drive Connector inside Docker (for example, with Airflow or directly from the UI), the ingestion image must include your module. Dockerfile example:

FROM openmetadata/ingestion:<version>

WORKDIR ingestion
USER airflow

COPY custom_drive custom_drive
COPY setup.py .
RUN pip install --no-deps .

This ensures that your code is baked into the ingestion container. Always align the ingestion image tag with the OpenMetadata version that is running your server/UI.

Step 5 - Run OpenMetadata with Custom Image

If you’re using Docker Compose, update your setup to use the new image.

run:
	docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up --build

Step 6 - Configure and Run the Connector

The Custom Drive service form does not expose a Source Python Class field. Add the fully qualified class name to your ingestion YAML, then run it with the ingestion CLI.

source:
  type: custom-drive
  serviceName: <service_name>
  serviceConnection:
    config:
      type: CustomDrive
      sourcePythonClass: custom_drive.my_drive_connector.MyDriveConnector
  sourceConfig:
    config:
      type: DriveMetadata
sink:
  type: metadata-rest
  config: {}

Run metadata ingest -c <path-to-config.yaml>.

Configure Metadata Agent and Schedule Ingestion

The Metadata Agent extracts directories, files, spreadsheets, and other structural metadata from your source and keeps your OpenMetadata catalog in sync. It powers discovery, lineage, and governance across your data assets. When you click Create & Deploy, OpenMetadata automatically deploys a Metadata Agent for this service and triggers the first ingestion run. View its status and run history from the Agents tab on the service detail page. To configure the additional Metadata Agent and schedule ingestion, follow these steps:

Navigate to Settings > Services and select the service type.
Click the service you have added.
Select the Agents tab and click Add Agent > Metadata. For some services, the dropdown is not available and clicking Add Agent takes you directly to the agent configuration page.

On the Configure Ingestion page, do the following and click Next.

Name this Ingestion: Enter a unique recognizable name for this ingestion pipeline.

Agent Setup: Configure the core parameters for this agent. The following fields are available:

Field	Default	Description
Number of Threads	1	Number of threads to use for parallel drive ingestion.
Mark Deleted Directories	On	Soft-delete directories in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like files, spreadsheets, worksheets, and lineage are also deleted.
Mark Deleted Files	On	Soft-delete files in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like lineage are also deleted.
Mark Deleted Spreadsheets	On	Soft-delete spreadsheets in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like worksheets and lineage are also deleted.
Mark Deleted Worksheets	On	Soft-delete worksheets in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like lineage are also deleted.
Include Directories	On	Fetch directory metadata. Turn off to skip directories entirely.
Include Files	On	Fetch file metadata. Turn off to skip files entirely.
Include Spreadsheets	On	Fetch spreadsheet metadata. Turn off to skip spreadsheets entirely.
Include Worksheets	On	Fetch worksheet metadata. Turn off to skip worksheets entirely.

Filter Patterns: Apply include or exclude rules to scope which directories, files, spreadsheets, and worksheets this agent ingests. Use FQN for filtering to apply regex on fully qualified names (for example, service_name.directory_name.file_name) instead of raw names. These follow the same filter options described in Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options.

Scope & Behaviour: Control what metadata to include and how to handle deletions. Toggle each option on or off based on your needs:

Toggle	Default	Description
Enable Debug Log	Off	Sets the ingestion log level to DEBUG. Useful for troubleshooting.
Include Tags	On	Ingest tags from the source.
Include Owners	Off	Assign owners from the source when the owner email matches an OpenMetadata user. Does not overwrite an existing owner.
Override Metadata	Off	When on, source values overwrite existing descriptions, tags, owners, and display names in OpenMetadata. When off, OpenMetadata only updates fields that have no existing value.

On the Schedule Interval page, set when the agent runs:
- Schedule: Choose a preset interval (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly) or enter a custom cron expression.
- On-Demand: No automatic schedule; trigger the agent manually when needed.
Click Add to deploy the agent.

​Custom Drive Connector

​Steps to Set Up a Custom Drive Connector

​Step 1 - Prepare Your Drive Connector

​Step 2 - Yield Drive Data as Entities

​Step 3 - Package Your Custom Drive Connector

​Step 4 - Update the Ingestion Image

​Step 5 - Run OpenMetadata with Custom Image

​Step 6 - Configure and Run the Connector

​Configure Metadata Agent and Schedule Ingestion

Custom Drive Connector

Steps to Set Up a Custom Drive Connector

Step 1 - Prepare Your Drive Connector

Step 2 - Yield Drive Data as Entities

Step 3 - Package Your Custom Drive Connector

Step 4 - Update the Ingestion Image

Step 5 - Run OpenMetadata with Custom Image

Step 6 - Configure and Run the Connector

Configure Metadata Agent and Schedule Ingestion