# Data and API catalog

> Turn the schemas you already publish into searchable documentation, relationships and architecture views.

Source: https://orbitalhq.com/features/data-and-api-catalog

![](/assets/hero-02-data-catalog-BAwM43_d.webp)

Data & API catalog

# **Living documentation** from your existing schemas

Turn the schemas you already publish into searchable documentation, relationships and architecture views.

As your systems change, **the catalog changes with them.**

[Get Started](/docs)[Read the docs](/docs/workspace/overview)

## **Living** documentation

Orbital turns the schemas you already publish into a searchable catalog of your APIs, data and relationships.

See where a data concept appears, which services use it, and how everything connects.

### Evergreen catalog

Pull schemas from Git, or publish them directly from your services.

Orbital indexes them automatically, so the catalog changes when your schemas do.

[Explore workspaces](/docs/workspace/overview)

![The Orbital catalog, showing a model’s attributes, types and documentation generated from its schema.](/assets/catalog-evergreen-Bkye0gSl.png)

### See how everything connects

Generate interactive diagrams from the services and schemas in Orbital.

Follow the relationships between APIs, databases and the data they expose.

[Explore observability](/features/observability)

![An auto-generated architecture diagram showing services, the data they publish and how they connect.](/assets/catalog-architecture-diagrams-Xam-kZ_U.png)

### Schema history

See every change to your APIs and schemas, and when it happened.

Track what changed and which connected services are affected.

[Read the docs](/docs/workspace/overview)

![The Orbital changelog, listing schema changes by date with the services each one affects.](/assets/catalog-changelog-BIYFwjtx.png)

### Runnable documentation

Put interactive schema diagrams and runnable queries inside your documentation.

Link directly into the catalog, so the docs stay tied to the systems they describe.

[Read the docs](/docs/workspace/overview)

![A readme in the Orbital catalog, with an embedded schema diagram and a runnable query alongside the prose.](/assets/catalog-readmes-BJvXvjnY.png)

-   [![](/assets/icon-catalog-search-YihJDQ7h.webp)
    
    ### Search the whole estate
    
    Find APIs, services, types and fields in one place, across OpenAPI, Protobuf, Avro, databases and more.
    
    
    
    ](/docs/workspace/overview)
-   [![](/assets/icon-catalog-generated-BAMjCd8D.webp)
    
    ### Find a concept everywhere
    
    Search for a term and see everywhere it appears — even when different systems use different field names.
    
    
    
    ](/docs/workspace/overview)
-   [![](/assets/icon-catalog-history-Bd5f5_xC.webp)
    
    ### See who uses what
    
    See which services produce, consume or depend on a data type before you change it.
    
    
    
    ](/docs/workspace/overview)
-   [![](/assets/banner-cta-graph-axsXt434.webp)
    
    ### Follow the relationships
    
    Move from a field to its type, the services that expose it, and the operations that use it.
    
    
    
    ](/docs/workspace/overview)

![](/assets/gareth-mcnicol-dE1kD4hw.jpg)

> Adopting an Orbital First approach has empowered LendingCrowd to model our domain seamlessly while integrating with third-party providers.
> 
> With Orbital, we’ve rapidly developed new partner and client-facing portals, achieving immediate success.
> 
> This approach will remain central to our data platform strategy as we scale and evolve.

[

Gareth McNicol

Head of Software Engineering - LendingCrowd

](https://www.lendingcrowd.com/)

![](/assets/jey-Dca08cYp.jpg)

> Orbital is one of the most exciting pieces of tech in the integration space I’ve seen in a long time. Customers can build integration in a fraction of the time, and the self-repairing is a game-changer.

Jey Deivachandran

CEO - Quadcorps

## Frequently asked questions

Got another gnarly question? We’d love to hear it. Come and chat on [Slack](https://join.slack.com/t/orbitalapi/shared_invite/zt-697laanr-DHGXXak5slqsY9DqwrkzHg).

Orbital supports OpenAPI, Protobuf, Avro, SOAP, JSON Schema, database schemas, Taxi and more.

The catalog brings them together into a single view, regardless of how each service describes its data.

Schemas can be read from Git or published directly by your services as part of deployment.

The same schemas are used by Orbital at runtime, so documentation and integration are driven from the same source.

Orbital understands the meaning of types and fields, not just their names.

That means you can find a concept across different systems, see where it is produced and consumed, and follow the relationships between APIs and data sources.

Yes. You can start with Orbital as a catalog and semantic layer, then introduce querying, integration and other capabilities when they become useful.

## **Publish a schema.** Get a catalog.

Point Orbital at a Git repository or push from a service, and the catalog builds itself.

[Start for free](/docs)[Talk to us](/contact)

![](/assets/banner-cta-branch-D3qOksDP.webp)