# Onboard data sources & datasets

Before you can monitor, test, or enforce data contracts in Soda, you need to **connect your data source and onboard your datasets**.

**Onboarding** is the process of:

* **Connecting Soda to your data source** (e.g., Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, PostgreSQL, etc.)
* **Discovering** available datasets (tables or views)
* **Selecting** which datasets to monitor and/or validate
* **Configuring** observability, testing, and scheduling behavior

How you onboard datasets depends on how you deploy Soda.

***

### Choose your onboarding path

Soda supports two main ways to onboard datasets:

{% if visitor.claims.plan === 'enterprise' || visitor.claims.plan === 'enterpriseUserBased' || visitor.claims.plan === 'datasetStandard' %}
{% columns %}
{% column %} <a href="/pages/cHo9ixopiR0flOMCbyUF" class="button primary">Via Soda Cloud</a>

This approach is ideal if you want:

* No-code dataset onboarding
* Automated dataset discovery
* Built-in metric monitoring
* Data contracts created in the UI
* Centralized scheduling and alerting
  {% endcolumn %}

{% column %} <a href="/pages/jRyzTsdHRPvC7AissjS1" class="button primary">Via Soda Core</a>

This approach is ideal if you want:

* Full control in code
* Git-based workflows
* CI/CD integration
* Contract verification inside pipelines
* Support for in-memory datasets
  {% endcolumn %}
  {% endcolumns %}
  {% endif %}

{% if !(visitor.claims.plan === 'enterprise' || visitor.claims.plan === 'enterpriseUserBased' || visitor.claims.plan === 'datasetStandard') %}
{% columns %}
{% column %}

#### Via Soda Cloud

This approach is ideal if you want:

* No-code dataset onboarding
* Automated dataset discovery
* Built-in metric monitoring
* Data contracts created in the UI
* Centralized scheduling and alerting
  {% endcolumn %}

{% column %}

#### Via Soda Core

This approach is ideal if you want:

* Full control in code
* Git-based workflows
* CI/CD integration
* Contract verification inside pipelines
* Support for in-memory datasets
  {% endcolumn %}
  {% endcolumns %}
  {% endif %}

You can also combine both approaches: use Soda Cloud for **centralized observability and governance**, and Soda Core for **pipeline-level validation**.

<br>

***

{% if (visitor.claims.plan === 'datasetStandard')
%}
{% hint style="success" %}
You are **logged in to Soda** and seeing the **Free license** documentation. Learn more about [Documentation access & licensing](/reference/documentation-access-and-licensing.md).
{% endhint %}
{% endif %}

{% if (visitor.claims.plan === 'enterprise')
%}
{% hint style="success" %}
You are **logged in to Soda** and seeing the **Team license** documentation. Learn more about [Documentation access & licensing](/reference/documentation-access-and-licensing.md).
{% endhint %}
{% endif %}

{% if (visitor.claims.plan === 'enterpriseUserBased')
%}
{% hint style="success" %}
You are **logged in to Soda** and seeing the **Enterprise license** documentation. Learn more about [Documentation access & licensing](/reference/documentation-access-and-licensing.md).
{% endhint %}
{% endif %}

{% if !(visitor.claims.plan === 'enterprise' || visitor.claims.plan === 'enterpriseUserBased' || visitor.claims.plan === 'datasetStandard')
%}
{% hint style="info" %}
You are **not logged in to Soda** and are viewing the default public documentation. Learn more about [Documentation access & licensing](/reference/documentation-access-and-licensing.md).
{% endhint %}
{% endif %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.soda.io/onboard-data-sources-and-datasets.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.