Customize Maia with Context Files

Maia supports context files. Context files are a powerful way to embed reusable knowledge and best practices directly into every prompt. These are Markdown files stored in your project that contain guidance such context about your project, business rules that could impact how Maia designs data pipelines, any data warehousing standards, and naming conventions.

Maia automatically reads all context files stored in your project and uses them to enhance its responses so you don’t have to repeat your requirements every time.

What are context files?

Context files are Markdown files stored in the .matillion/maia/rules/ directory of your Git-backed project in the Designer. They provide reusable guidance to Maia in plain language.

Each time you interact with Maia, the content of all context files are included in the background helping Maia understand your standards and preferences.

Note

If you decide to use context files, you must ensure that they are kept up to date. Maia will not prompt you to update them, so it’s important to review and modify them as your project evolves.

Note

Context files are project specific.

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Add or edit context from the Maia panel

In addition to managing files from the Files panel, you can also work with context files directly in the Maia chat interface.

• Add Context: This button appears at the top of the chat panel when no context is yet applied. It lets you create one immediately.
• Edit Context: Once a context file is applied, this button allows you to open and edit the file without switching views.

These options let you apply guidance to Maia with minimal effort while you build your pipelines.

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Where are context files stored?

1. To view your context files, navigation to .matillion/maia/rules/ in the Files panel.
2. Add a new Markdown file (e.g., naming.md, connections.md, standards.md, or context.md).
   1. By default the file is named context.md, but you can create multiple files for different purposes and also rename context files.
3. Write your context content in plain Markdown. Maia supports headings, lists, and tables.

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Example use cases

Scenario	How a context file helps
Contextualize the project	Give Maia context about your project.
Enforce naming conventions	Define how pipelines and resources should be named.
Build awareness	Include business-specific definitions, glossary terms, or standards.
Simplify reuse	Store connection information for systems that you will frequently use to build data pipelines

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Example: Downloadable context file

Below is a sample context file you can download. It includes a project overview, rules for star schema design, and naming conventions for tables. This example is tailored for a grocery analytics project, but you can adapt it to your own needs.

Download sample-context-file.md

To use it:

1. Save the file to your project’s .matillion/maia/rules/ directory.
2. Add any data source details, authentication information, or rules to reflect your team’s standards.
3. Commit the file to your branch. Maia will automatically use it in every prompt.