Pillar guide

The modern semantic layer playbook

Ship consistent metrics across Tableau, Looker, Power BI, and dbt with MetricLayer’s parser, templates, and guardrails.

What is a semantic layer?

A semantic layer aligns metrics, dimensions, and business logic across every analytics tool. With MetricLayer, you translate Tableau workbook logic into MetricFlow YAML that dbt understands (Looker and Power BI support is on the roadmap).

Instead of spreading calculations across extracts or ad hoc SQL, you centralize grain, filters, and aggregations inside version-controlled YAML guarded by lint rules and CI.

Why teams stall

  • Workbook fields do not map cleanly to dbt models
  • Fan-out joins break when pipelines change
  • Stakeholders lose trust when numbers drift between tools

How MetricLayer helps

  • Upload Tableau TWB and get MetricFlow YAML instantly
  • Programmatic templates (Tableau now; other BI tools coming soon)
  • CLI and lint rules catch naming drift or contract regressions before merge

Next steps

Deep-dive into MetricLayer resources tailored for semantic layer launches.

Templates by industry & tool

Plug-and-play YAML for ecommerce, B2B SaaS, financial services, and more.

Read more →
MetricFlow YAML how-to

Understand entities, measures, and metric definitions with working examples.

Read more →
dbt Semantic Layer comparison

Compare MetricLayer workflows with native dbt Cloud capabilities before you choose.

Read more →
CLI and lint guardrails

Automate YAML validation and CI enforcement with our open-source tools.

Read more →