---
title: "Give every table an owner and a · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/warehouse-and-models/table-owners
id: DEN-4
level: Recommended
updated: 2026-10-22
tokens: 762
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Give every table an owner and a description

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Warehouse and models](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/warehouse-and-models.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-22.

- ID: DEN-4
- Level: Recommended
- Chapter: [Warehouse and models](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/warehouse-and-models.md)
- Rule: Record an owner team, a one-line description and a refresh schedule for every shared table, in a metadata file next to its code.
- Check: A script reads the metadata and fails on any shared table without an owner, a description or a schedule. The warehouse's query history shows no shared table unread for 90 days.
- How: A catalog can read these files and show them to analysts. Mark each column that holds personal data there too, which [Copy only the personal columns an analysis needs](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/personal-data-in-the-warehouse/warehouse-minimisation.md) builds on. Tag the warehouse account and its storage as [Tag every resource with its owner](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/infrastructure/cost-and-ownership/required-tags.md) does. Drop a table that nobody has read for 90 days, as with [code that nothing uses](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/architecture/dead-code/delete-unused-code.md).

## Sources

- [dbt meta config](https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/resource-configs/meta)

## Related rules

- DEN-23 [Copy only the personal columns an analysis needs](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/personal-data-in-the-warehouse/warehouse-minimisation.md) in Data engineering
- INF-52 [Tag every resource with its owner](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/infrastructure/cost-and-ownership/required-tags.md) in Infrastructure and environments
- ARC-59 [Delete code that nothing uses](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/architecture/dead-code/delete-unused-code.md) in Clean code and architecture
- DEN-16 [Alert when data arrives late](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/data-quality-tests/freshness-limits.md) in Data engineering

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/warehouse-and-models/table-owners">Agent Wranglers data engineering playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Build every warehouse table from reviewed code](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/warehouse-and-models/transformations-as-code.md)
- Next: [Build and test models in separate schemas](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/warehouse-and-models/development-schemas.md)
- [Warehouse and models](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/data-engineering/warehouse-and-models.md)