Databases and operations
Metabase automation and integration.
An open-source business intelligence tool, used to give teams dashboards and questions over their own database without writing SQL each time.
- Tool
- metabase.com
- Usually paired with
- PostgreSQL, BigQuery, Supabase, Slack
- Timeline
- Most builds live in 3 to 5 business days from scope
- Owned by
- You, with accounts, credentials and code in your name.
What we build on Metabase
- Connect Metabase to Postgres or BigQuery
- Build dashboards for each team
- Set permissions on who sees which data
- Embed charts in internal tools and portals
What we sync
Workflows we are asked for
- Metabase dashboards on Supabase
- Metabase weekly reports by email
- Metabase embedded in a client portal
- Metabase over a BigQuery warehouse
Often paired with
Tools Metabase usually needs to talk to.
-
Metabase and PostgreSQL
The database under most serious systems, including Supabase.
-
Metabase and BigQuery
Google Cloud's data warehouse for running SQL across large datasets.
-
Metabase and Supabase
Postgres with auth, storage and APIs, and the database under most apps we build or rescue.
-
Metabase and Slack
Team chat, and usually the place where alerts get read.
In every build
Standards we apply to every build.
Under the hood
- Upserts keyed on the record
Each write is matched on the source ID, so a retry or a re-fired event updates the existing record.
- Retries with backoff
Rate limits and timeouts are retried with increasing delays. If they still fail, they are parked for review.
- Idempotent, loop-safe writes
Two-way flows carry a marker so a change written by the sync does not re-trigger the sync.
- Reconciliation
A nightly job compares counts and totals on both sides and lists any record that differs.
- Audit log
Each run records the input, the mapping result, the action taken and what triggered it. You can search it by record.
For the team
- Slack or email notifications
Alerts go to a named person on your team, by Slack, email or WhatsApp.
- A runbook
One document per integration: what it does, what each alert means, and what to do in the first ten minutes.
- Training
A live session with the people who will use the review queue, recorded for whoever joins later.
- Handover
Admin access, billing and code sit in accounts in your name from the start, so the build keeps running if we stop working together.
- Sixty days of hypercare
The engineers who built it stay on call after go-live, fix what breaks and tune what the team asks for.
Keys and data
- Keys are kept in a vault
API keys and tokens are stored in the orchestration layer's encrypted credential store or the platform's secret manager. None are written into workflows, repos, spreadsheets or chat.
- One credential per connection
Each integration gets its own key, scoped to the objects and actions it needs. A lead sync cannot read invoices. Revoking one key stops one thing.
- Service accounts for connections
Connections use a dedicated service user in your account, so nothing breaks when a person leaves and nothing runs under someone's name.
- Two-factor on every account
Each platform account we set up has two-factor authentication on, and the recovery codes are handed to you.
- Rotation on handover and on request
Keys are rotated when the build is handed over, when anyone with access leaves, and at any time you ask.
The offer
Connect Metabase to the rest of your stack.
We agree a fixed scope in a discovery call, and most builds go live in three to five business days. The accounts are in your name, and the engineers who built it stay on call for sixty days after.
- ScopeOne call to agree the workflows, the fields and the owner, written up the same day.
- BuildValidation, upserts, retries, reconciliation and an audit log, on n8n, Make or code.
- Go-liveWe test in a sandbox first, then switch over. It takes longer only where a vendor has to approve something.
- HandoverRunbook, training session, alerts to a named owner, admin access and code in your accounts.
- AfterSixty days of hypercare, then a care plan or run it yourself.
Questions
What people ask about Metabase.
Metabase or Power BI?
Metabase is quick to set up and easy for non-analysts over a clean database. Power BI suits teams already on Microsoft with heavier modelling needs.
Metabase
Start with the one Metabase workflow your team still runs by hand.
Bring it to a discovery call. You leave with a yes or no on fit, an outline of the build and what we would do first.
Book the call