Anand, thanks for chiming in. Looking forward to work together on it. Dmitri, Adam, Adnan, thanks for the clarification. I think we can separate a few concerns here.
Apache Ossie specifies the OSI model spec itself, but not the CRUD REST endpoints for managing OSI documents in Polaris. Polaris has the opportunity to define those APIs. As Adam mentioned, the validator is intended for Ossie schema validation. That should definitely be version based, so Polaris can validate the submitted document against the corresponding OSI spec version while keeping the REST API contract under Polaris control. On the "first class" point, I think Adnan's interpretation is correct. The intent is that a semantic model is a Polaris entity in the same sense as an Iceberg table, view, generic table, or policy. It participates in the Polaris metadata model, authorization model, and lifecycle as a managed entity. In that sense, it is different from metrics or events, which are auxiliary data associated with entities rather than entities themselves. On the "always active" point, providing a feature flag makes sense, this is already included in PR 4816. We can run the OSI API by default in the Apache Polaris build, but allow downstream admins to turn it off if they do not need it in their deployment. Thanks, Yufei On Mon, Jun 22, 2026 at 1:37 PM Anand Kumar Sankaran via dev < [email protected]> wrote: > JB and Yufei, > > Thanks for doing this. We have customers asking for this as well. Happy to > help in any way possible. > > - > Anand > > From: Adnan Hemani via dev <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, June 22, 2026 at 12:18 PM > To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Cc: Adnan Hemani <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [DISCUSS] Semantic Layer Support in Apache Polaris > > This Message Is From an External Sender > This message came from outside your organization. > Report Suspicious< > https://us-phishalarm-ewt.proofpoint.com/EWT/v1/Iz9xO38YGHZK!YhNDZAGomgiHL51L-6FL3QPZjxHXwiq6JCAQHbb6PAE7K6Eqwb--zyy23NolE2-B94Vu6rTO00mQ6c0S3xLY-wGl3G8wkj5qTIJjWF_iK7wIvcJej0eX1hsbj7Uhl7_c$ > > > > > Hi Adam, Dmitri, Yufei, > > Adding in a clarification: I believe "first class" in the context of OSI > would mean that it is given the same level of importance as a Polaris > entity as a Table or View would. Is that generally correct? > > Best, > Adnan Hemani > > On Mon, Jun 22, 2026 at 10:50 AM Adam Christian < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Dmitri, > > > > This proposal [1] includes a second tab with the detailed design. It > shows > > the REST APIs that handle the CRUD operations for OSI Semantic Models. > The > > Semantic Model will be validated in the OsiDocumentValidator which I > assume > > will validate against the Apache Ossie version. In my reading, Polaris > does > > not control it; we will leverage the upstream spec. > > > > Regarding OSI functionality if this feature is always active, I assume > > users would benefit from it being active. If an admin user does not want > to > > leverage OSI inside their Polaris instance, they simply won't grant the > > privileges to the consuming users. > > > > [1] - > > > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZdI-1w_5LbyCMhvUhLCtOt-N1Z89L2P-oiGLaYayCZg/edit?usp=sharing__;!!Iz9xO38YGHZK!5zRt5PLr106Rj8WbH_RftJ4SqCWP119n37Z77kzoNL-_JhobudorMvD0UdqyXJTi1PCMu0vGL3KGPBIq6oELUw$ > > > > On Thu, Jun 18, 2026 at 6:13 PM Dmitri Bourlatchkov <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > Hi Yufei, > > > > > > Sorry for getting to this proposal late. I postred some comments on PR > > > 4816, recounting the key points here in more detail. > > > > > > * From the proposal doc: Goal G1: "Store OSI 0.1.x documents as > > first-class > > > Polaris entities, scoped under a Namespace" > > > > > > I believe this needs a bit more discussion before we proceed to > concrete > > > code changes. The idea of persisting OSI data is totally valid. > However, > > > I'm not sure what "first class" means in this context? Does it mean > that > > > OSI functionality has to be active all the time? > > > > > > My initial perception of this proposal is that as a use case it is > > similar > > > to persisting Metrics (or Events) in Polaris. That is, the feature is > > > valuable, but downstream projects may want to have the flexibility of > > > deciding whether to include it or not. > > > > > > * Another point I'd like to clarity is about the REST API definition. > Are > > > API endpoints going be defined and controlled by the Polaris project? > > > > > > * Are REST API payload types defined and controlled by Polaris or by > > Apache > > > Ossie [1]? > > > > > > [1] > > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg86564.html__;!!Iz9xO38YGHZK!5zRt5PLr106Rj8WbH_RftJ4SqCWP119n37Z77kzoNL-_JhobudorMvD0UdqyXJTi1PCMu0vGL3KGPBLfgVHpkQ$ > > > > > > Thanks, > > > Dmitri. > > > > > > On Fri, May 29, 2026 at 6:34 PM Yufei Gu <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > Hi folks, > > > > > > > > As AI agents, BI tools, notebooks, and query engines increasingly > > consume > > > > the same data, semantic definitions such as metrics and dimensions > are > > > > often duplicated across multiple systems. This leads to inconsistent > > > > definitions, duplicated effort, and governance challenges. The rise > of > > AI > > > > agents further amplifies this problem, as agents rely on semantic > > context > > > > to understand data and reason about business concepts. Without a > shared > > > > semantic layer, organizations often end up maintaining multiple > > versions > > > of > > > > the same business definitions across tools and applications. > > > > > > > > JB and I would like to start a discussion on adding semantic layer > > > support > > > > to Apache Polaris so semantic models can be defined once, governed > > > > centrally, and consumed consistently across tools. The proposal[1] > > > > introduces semantic models as a first class Polaris entity using the > > Open > > > > Semantic Interchange (OSI)[2] specification[3]. At a high level, the > > > > proposal adds: > > > > > > > > - A new SEMANTIC_MODEL entity type > > > > - CRUD APIs for semantic models > > > > - Schema validation and authorization > > > > > > > > Polaris remains a metadata service and does not execute metrics or > > > semantic > > > > queries. > > > > Feedback on the overall direction, design, and OSI adoption would be > > > > greatly appreciated. > > > > > > > > 1. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZdI-1w_5LbyCMhvUhLCtOt-N1Z89L2P-oiGLaYayCZg/edit?usp=sharing__;!!Iz9xO38YGHZK!5zRt5PLr106Rj8WbH_RftJ4SqCWP119n37Z77kzoNL-_JhobudorMvD0UdqyXJTi1PCMu0vGL3KGPBIq6oELUw$ > > > > 2. > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://open-semantic-interchange.org__;!!Iz9xO38YGHZK!5zRt5PLr106Rj8WbH_RftJ4SqCWP119n37Z77kzoNL-_JhobudorMvD0UdqyXJTi1PCMu0vGL3KGPBKnqDA0QQ$ > > > > 3. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/open-semantic-interchange/OSI/blob/main/core-spec/spec.md__;!!Iz9xO38YGHZK!5zRt5PLr106Rj8WbH_RftJ4SqCWP119n37Z77kzoNL-_JhobudorMvD0UdqyXJTi1PCMu0vGL3KGPBLfoGUc7Q$ > > > > > > > > > > > > Yufei > > > > > > > > > > >
