A Source in Catalio is an external data feed connected to a Journey to enable automated requirements discovery. Sources represent the places where institutional knowledge actually lives — GitHub commit messages, meeting transcripts, uploaded documents — and make that knowledge accessible to Catalio’s AI analysis pipeline.
The Discovery Problem Sources Solve
Most requirements are never formally documented. They exist in:
- GitHub pull request comments where reviewers surface business logic
- Zoom call transcripts where subject matter experts explain tribal knowledge
- Uploaded documents and recordings that never made it into a ticket
Sources bridge the gap between these informal knowledge stores and Catalio’s structured requirements catalog. GitHub repository sources and internal journey sources are Available today. Additional source types are Planned; they may accept configuration in the product but do not yet ingest signals automatically.
Source Types
Today, GitHub repositories and internal journey sources are Available. Source types
zoom, video, and document are Planned — they may accept configuration in the product but
do not yet ingest signals automatically.
| Type | Status | What It Connects |
|---|---|---|
| github | Available | A GitHub repository within a connected GitHub account |
| journey | Available | A Journey session (internal source for traceability) |
| zoom | Planned | A Zoom meeting recording |
| video | Planned | An uploaded video recording |
| document | Planned | An uploaded document |
The retired slack and ms_teams source types still appear on Sources created before the chat
integrations were removed. They are read-only history — no new Source can be created with either.
Key Fields
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| name (source_name) | Human-readable label for this source |
| type | Type of source: github, journey, zoom, video, document |
| source_id | External identifier (e.g., GitHub repo ID) |
| status | enabled or disabled — whether Catalio is actively monitoring |
| journey_id | The Journey this source feeds knowledge into |
| organization_id | Tenant scope |
Source-to-Channel Mappings
Sources connect to specific channels or repositories via mapping resources:
- SourceToGithubRepoMapping — Links a Source to one GitHub repository with optional branch filter
These mappings have their own enable and disable actions, letting you temporarily pause a data feed without deleting the source.
Enabling and Disabling Sources
Each Source can be paused and resumed from the Sources list without losing its configuration. Paused Sources stop ingesting new signals until you re-enable them. This is useful during discovery sprints when you want to control the volume of incoming signals from a specific channel.
How Sources Feed Requirements
For Available source types (GitHub repositories and journey sources today), when a Source is enabled and connected:
- Catalio monitors the repository or journey-linked activity for new signals
- Incoming content is processed by the AI pipeline
- The AI identifies requirements-relevant signals
- Signals are surfaced as potential Requirements or Change Proposals linked to the associated Journey
This pipeline runs asynchronously — Sources do not block your team’s workflow in the connected tools. Planned source types will follow the same pattern when ingestion ships.
Journey Sources
When a Journey is captured, Catalio creates an internal Source record of type journey to maintain traceability. This allows requirements discovered through journey analysis to be traced back to the specific journey session that surfaced them.
Best Practices
Connect Sources at the Journey level, not the requirement level.
Sources feed knowledge into the journey they relate to. As the AI identifies specific requirements from that knowledge, they get linked appropriately.
Be selective about what you connect.
High-noise repositories and feeds produce low-quality signals. Prefer the ones where substantive business logic lands: the service that owns the workflow, the repo your domain experts actually review.
Enable Sources incrementally.
Start with 2-3 high-value Sources. Review the output quality before expanding. Too many Sources too quickly can overwhelm your team with proposals to review.
Review and curate regularly.
Sources generate Change Proposals. Assign a team member to review proposals weekly — approving accurate ones and dismissing noise.
Relationships at a Glance
| Related Concept | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Journeys | Sources feed knowledge into a Journey; Journeys also create internal Sources for traceability |
| Change Proposals | AI-processed Source content surfaces as proposals |
| Requirements | Approved proposals become Requirements |
Next Steps
- Connect GitHub — Link your repositories (Available today)
- Understand Journeys — Learn how Sources and Journeys work together
- Review Change Proposals — Curate AI-surfaced discoveries
Pro Tip: The highest-value Sources are the places where subject matter experts and engineers debate edge cases — review threads, call transcripts, design docs. That’s where the most valuable institutional knowledge lives, and where formal documentation almost never reaches.
Support
- Documentation: Continue reading about Capabilities and Change Proposals
- Email: support@catalio.ai
