Do I need Atlas Cloud to use Atlas?
Question
Do I need Atlas Cloud to use Atlas? We develop locally, run our own CI, and deploy to our own databases.
Answer
No. The Atlas CLI runs on your machines and in your CI, and connects to your databases from there. Atlas Cloud does not access your repositories or databases. By default, it verifies your license and the Atlas Pro features it entitles you to. The CLI also sends telemetry and error reports, which exclude your data, database passwords, and schema, see data privacy. Offline licenses are supported too, see working offline below.
- License verification: run
atlas loginon your machine to use Atlas Pro features, and log CI jobs in with a bot token. The features that don't need Pro are listed in feature availability, and run without logging in. - Optional features: the Atlas Registry, the system of record for your schemas, migrations, and deployments, and the rest of Atlas Cloud: schema monitoring, schema docs, the column-level lineage graph, and the security graph. Without the registry, package the migration directory or saved plans in any artifact your pipeline builds, such as a container image, and Atlas runs them from there.
Working offline
- Atlas user licenses work offline by default.
- In CI,
atlas login --token --grant-onlycaches a grant file, so jobs keep using Atlas Pro features for some time without connectivity to Atlas Cloud. See offline access. - For pipelines that never reach Atlas Cloud, the Enterprise tier offers a custom offline license. See offline operation.