OpenLineage as the Spine of Data Observability

This article details how OpenLineage serves as the foundation for data observability by providing a standardized API for tools like Airflow, Spark, Flink, and dbt to emit structured lineage events. These events are assembled into a searchable dependency graph, allowing teams to quickly trace pipeline failures and understand downstream impacts without manual archaeology. It covers OpenLineage's event model, integration across the stack, backends like Marquez and DataHub, and advanced topics such as column-level lineage and SLA tracking. The article emphasizes how OpenLineage enables blast radius analysis and builds reliable data platforms.