Can dataset owner, business owner, tech owner, data steward, and custom attributes be retrieved using Purview Rest API endpoints?

Question

Hi Team,

Can dataset owner, business owner, tech owner, data steward, and custom attributes be retrieved using Purview Rest API endpoints?

We are currently exploring the Microsoft Purview APIs to automate the extraction of metadata for datasets.

Specifically, we are trying to retrieve the following information for assets registered in Purview:

• Dataset Owner

Business Owner

Technical Owner

Data Steward

• Custom attributes

Our goal is to automate the extraction of these attributes using Purview REST APIs and integrate them into downstream reporting and monitoring workflows.

We would like to understand:

Is it possible to retrieve these fields using the Microsoft Purview REST APIs?

1. If these attributes are stored as custom attributes or classifications, can they also be accessed programmatically via API?

Any documentation references or example API endpoints would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Hi **M, Akhil,
**
Yes, the metadata you mentioned can be retrieved programmatically using the **Microsoft Purview Data Plane (Apache Atlas) REST APIs.

You can use the entity endpoint to retrieve asset metadata including attributes, classifications, and glossary relationships:

GET https://{purview-name}.purview.azure.com/catalog/api/atlas/v2/entity/guid/{assetGuid}

The response returns:

entity.attributes → built-in attributes and custom attributes

entity.classifications → classification attributes (often used for governance roles)

relationshipAttributes → glossary term relationships

Fields such as Dataset Owner, Business Owner, Technical Owner, or Data Steward can be retrieved if they are defined in the asset schema as attributes, classifications, or glossary relationships. Purview does not enforce these as fixed fields, so their availability depends on how governance metadata is modeled in your environment.
References

Microsoft Purview REST API
https://learn.microsoft.com/rest/api/purview/

Atlas API tutorial for Purview
https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/purview/tutorial-atlas-2-2-apis

• Using Purview REST APIs
  https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/purview/tutorial-using-rest-apis
  Hope this helps. If you have any follow-up questions, please let me know. I would be happy to help. Please do not forget to "up-vote" wherever the information provided helps you, as this can be beneficial to other community members.

Answer 2

Yes, these types of attributes can be retrieved programmatically from Microsoft Purview, but how to do it depends on how they are modeled in Purview (Unified Catalog custom metadata vs. Atlas business metadata vs. built‑in properties).

1. Retrieving custom attributes in Unified Catalog

If Dataset Owner, Business Owner, Technical Owner, Data Steward, or similar fields are modeled as custom metadata attributes in the Unified Catalog, they are supported as:

• Business concept attributes – applied to business concepts such as governance domains, data products, glossary terms, critical data elements, OKRs.
• Data asset attributes – applied directly to data assets.

These attributes are created and managed under:

Unified Catalog → Catalog management → Custom metadata (preview)

Once defined and applied, they are part of the asset’s metadata and can be accessed via the Purview Unified Catalog APIs (Public Preview). The Unified Catalog API is designed to:

• Integrate and manage Unified Catalog resources programmatically.
• Work with business concepts such as data products, glossary terms, OKRs, business domains, critical data elements, and data access policies.

To use these APIs:

1. Authenticate using the documented data-plane authentication flow.
2. Call the relevant Unified Catalog API operations for the resource type (for example, data products, glossary terms, etc.).

Any custom attributes attached to those resources (for example, a “Business Owner” attribute on a data product) will be returned as part of the resource metadata in the API response.

2. Retrieving custom attributes via Atlas 2.2 business metadata APIs

If these roles/fields are modeled as Atlas business metadata (custom attributes attached to assets using Atlas types), they can be retrieved using the Atlas 2.2 APIs exposed by Purview.

Key points:

• Business metadata is a template that contains custom attributes (key–value pairs).
• These templates are created globally and then applied to one or more entity types.

Relevant Atlas endpoints:

• Get a business metadata definition:
  • GET {endpoint}/api/atlas/v2/types/typedef/name/{Business Metadata Name}
• Get business metadata values on an entity:
  • Use the entity APIs with the asset GUID; business metadata attached to the entity is returned as part of the entity payload.

Example pattern to read a custom owner attribute:

1. Identify the asset GUID in Purview.
2. Call the Atlas entity API for that GUID.
3. In the response, inspect the businessMetadata section for keys such as DatasetOwner, BusinessOwner, TechOwner, DataSteward, or whatever names were configured in the business metadata type.
4. Accessing attributes regardless of storage (custom attributes or classifications)

If owner/steward fields are stored as:

• Custom metadata attributes in Unified Catalog → use the Unified Catalog API to read the corresponding resource (data asset, data product, glossary term, etc.) and inspect its attributes.
• Atlas business metadata → use the Atlas 2.2 APIs to read businessMetadata for the entity.
• Classifications (for example, a classification that encodes ownership) → use the Atlas entity APIs; classifications applied to the entity are returned in the entity metadata and can be parsed programmatically.

In all cases, once the attributes are modeled and attached to assets, they are available in the API responses and can be extracted and pushed into downstream reporting/monitoring workflows.

4. Prerequisites and roles

• To create and manage data asset attributes (custom metadata) in Unified Catalog, the Data Curator role in the Data Map is required.
• Once attributes are defined and applied, any caller with appropriate Purview data-plane permissions and Azure AD authorization can retrieve them via the documented REST APIs.

5. Summary

• Yes, Dataset Owner, Business Owner, Technical Owner, Data Steward, and other custom attributes can be retrieved via Purview REST APIs, provided they are modeled as custom metadata (Unified Catalog attributes or Atlas business metadata) or as classifications.
• Custom attributes and classifications are fully accessible programmatically through the Unified Catalog API and/or Atlas 2.2 APIs, and can be integrated into downstream automation.

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References:

• Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Microsoft Purview data governance solutions
• Unified Catalog API (Public Preview)
• Microsoft Purview Resource Provider Rest API
• Custom metadata (preview) in Unified Catalog
• Create and manage data asset attributes
• Tutorial: Atlas 2.2 functionality