Omni Query

Run queries against Omni's semantic layer via the REST API. Omni translates field selections into optimized SQL — you specify what you want (dimensions, measures, filters), not how to get it.

Tip: Use omni-model-explorer first if you don't know the available topics and fields.

Prerequisites

export OMNI_BASE_URL="https://yourorg.omniapp.co"
export OMNI_API_KEY="your-api-key"

You also need a model ID and knowledge of available topics and fields.

API Discovery

When unsure whether an endpoint or parameter exists, fetch the OpenAPI spec:

curl -L "$OMNI_BASE_URL/openapi.json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OMNI_API_KEY"

Use this to verify endpoints, available parameters, and request/response schemas before making calls.

Running a Query

Basic Query

curl -L -X POST "$OMNI_BASE_URL/api/v1/query/run" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OMNI_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": {
      "modelId": "your-model-id",
      "table": "order_items",
      "fields": [
        "order_items.created_at[month]",
        "order_items.total_revenue"
      ],
      "limit": 100,
      "join_paths_from_topic_name": "order_items"
    }
  }'

Query Parameters

Field Naming

Fields use view_name.field_name. Date fields support timeframe brackets:

users.created_at[date]      — Daily
users.created_at[week]      — Weekly
users.created_at[month]     — Monthly
users.created_at[quarter]   — Quarterly
users.created_at[year]      — Yearly

Sorts

"sorts": [
  { "column_name": "order_items.total_revenue", "sort_descending": true }
]

Filters

"filters": {
  "order_items.created_at": "last 90 days",
  "order_items.status": "complete",
  "users.state": "California,New York"
}

Expressions: "last 90 days", "this quarter", "2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31", "not California", "null", "not null", ">100", "between 10 and 100", "contains sales", "starts with A". See references/filter-expressions.md for the complete expression syntax reference.

Pivots

{
  "query": {
    "fields": ["order_items.created_at[month]", "order_items.status", "order_items.count"],
    "pivots": ["order_items.status"],
    "join_paths_from_topic_name": "order_items"
  }
}

Handling Results

Default response: base64-encoded Apache Arrow table. Arrow results are binary — you cannot parse individual row data from the raw response. To verify a query returned data, check summary.row_count in the response.

For human-readable results, request CSV instead:

{ "query": { ... }, "resultType": "csv" }

Decoding Arrow Results

import base64, pyarrow as pa
arrow_bytes = base64.b64decode(response["data"])
reader = pa.ipc.open_stream(arrow_bytes)
df = reader.read_all().to_pandas()

Long-Running Queries

If the response includes remaining_job_ids, poll until complete:

curl -L -X POST "$OMNI_BASE_URL/api/v1/query/wait" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OMNI_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "jobIds": ["job-id-1", "job-id-2"] }'

Running Queries from Dashboards

Extract and re-run queries powering existing dashboards:

# Get all queries from a dashboard
curl -L "$OMNI_BASE_URL/api/v1/documents/{dashboardId}/queries" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OMNI_API_KEY"

# Run as a specific user
{ "query": { ... }, "userId": "user-uuid-here" }

# Skip cache (valid values: disabled, normal, refresh, refresh_all)
{ "query": { ... }, "cache": "refresh" }

Multi-Step Analysis Pattern

For complex analysis, chain queries:

1. Broad query — understand the shape of the data
2. Inspect results — identify interesting segments or patterns
3. Focused follow-ups — filter based on findings
4. Synthesize — combine results into a narrative

Common Query Patterns

Time Series: fields + date dimension + ascending sort + date filter

Top N: fields + metric + descending sort + limit

Aggregation with Breakdown: multiple dimensions + multiple measures + descending sort by key metric

Known Bugs

• IS_NOT_NULL filter generates IS NULL (reported Omni bug) — workaround: invert the filter logic or use the base view to apply the filter differently.
• Boolean filters may be silently dropped when a pivots array is present — if boolean filters aren't applying, remove the pivot and test again.

Linking to Results

Queries are ephemeral — there is no persistent URL for a query result. To give the user a shareable link:

• For existing dashboards: {OMNI_BASE_URL}/dashboards/{identifier} (the identifier comes from the document API response)
• For new analysis: Create a document via omni-content-builder with the query as a queryPresentation, then share {OMNI_BASE_URL}/dashboards/{identifier}

Docs Reference

• Query API · Running Document Queries · Querying Documentation · Filter Syntax

Related Skills

• omni-model-explorer — discover fields and topics before querying
• omni-content-explorer — find dashboards whose queries you can extract
• omni-content-builder — turn query results into dashboards