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Execution context is the combination of four settings—data plane, compute pool, database, and schema—that determines where and how your platform operations run. Every query you execute, every dataset you browse, and every audience you build runs within a specific execution context. Think of it as answering four questions at once: Where does my data live? (data plane), What resources should process it? (compute pool), Which database? (database), and Which schema? (schema).

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The four dimensions

Each dimension narrows the scope of the next. Selecting a data plane determines which compute pools are available. Selecting a database determines which schemas are available.

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How context affects the platform

Your execution context influences what you see and how operations behave across the platform: If you switch your data plane, you’ll see a different set of datasets, and any queries you run will execute against different infrastructure.

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Supported providers

Execution context options vary depending on your data plane’s underlying provider: See Compute Pools for details on what each compute pool type offers.

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Default behavior

When you first load the platform, context auto-selects based on what’s available to you:
  • Single data plane — Auto-selected. No action needed.
  • Multiple data planes — Defaults to the Narrative DCP (data collaboration platform).
  • Compute pool — Defaults to the data plane’s default compute pool. For Snowflake, this is the warehouse you’ve designated as default. For Narrative and Customer AWS, this is Shared.
  • Database and schema — Default to DEFAULT.
For most users with a single data plane, the execution context is set automatically and requires no interaction.

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Context persistence

Your execution context is saved to your browser’s local storage. When you return to the platform in a later session, your previous selections are restored automatically. This means you don’t need to re-select your context each time you log in.
Because context is stored per-browser, using a different browser or clearing local storage will reset your selections to the defaults.

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Database and schema

The database and schema dimensions currently default to DEFAULT for all data planes. These dimensions exist to support future multi-database and multi-schema configurations, where organizations may need to scope operations to specific databases or schemas within a data plane. For now, you can leave these at their default values.

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Related content

Data Planes

Where your data lives and is processed

Compute Pools

How compute resources are allocated for query execution

Using the Context Selector

Step-by-step guide to changing your execution context