# Catalogs

Connect an external catalog to use tagging capabilities outside of Immuta and pull tags from external table schemas. Once the catalog has been connected, Immuta ingests a data dictionary from the catalog and applies data source and column tags directly to the data source. These tags can then be used to create policies.

## [Getting started](https://documentation.immuta.com/2024.2/data-and-integrations/catalogs/catalogs)

This getting started guide outlines how to use external catalogs in Immuta.

## How-to guide

[Configure an external catalog](https://documentation.immuta.com/2024.2/data-and-integrations/catalogs/configure): Configure Alation, Collibra, Snowflake, or a custom REST catalog in Immuta.

## Reference guides

* [External catalog integrations](https://documentation.immuta.com/2024.2/data-and-integrations/catalogs/reference-guides/pre-configuration): This reference guide describes the requirements of the external catalogs Immuta supports.
* [Custom REST catalog introduction](https://documentation.immuta.com/2024.2/data-and-integrations/catalogs/reference-guides/custom-rest-catalogs): This reference guide describes the custom catalog option for users to make API calls to retrieve metadata on their data.
* [Custom REST catalog interface endpoints](https://documentation.immuta.com/2024.2/data-and-integrations/catalogs/reference-guides/custom-rest-catalogs/interface): This reference guide describes the endpoints for configuring a custom REST catalog.