Palantir Foundry: Basics to Real-World Architecture

Every powerful application starts with a solid data foundation. In this lecture, we dive into the Data Connection application. I will show you how to securely connect Foundry to external systems and configure your source systems properly. Understanding how to establish these initial connections securely is the first critical step in any enterprise data engineering role.

Once connected, we need to bring that data into the platform reliably. We will walk through configuring syncs, setting up schedules, and performing basic data hygiene before ingestion. You will learn how to land your raw data securely into Foundry, creating the foundational "bronze layer" of your data pipeline that the rest of your architecture will rely on.

It is time to start transforming data like a pro. This lecture introduces Foundry's Code Repositories, where we leverage PySpark, Python, and SQL to build robust pipelines. I will also break down the fundamentals of version control (branching, committing, and merging) within Foundry. Mastering this collaborative workflow is non-negotiable if you want to work on large-scale enterprise data teams.

Not every transformation requires complex code. Here, we explore Pipeline Builder, Foundry's premier low-code/no-code data engineering tool. I will teach you how to apply powerful transforms visually and, most importantly, how to track your Data Lineage. Understanding how to read the lineage graph to troubleshoot and trace data from its origin to the final application is a superpower for any Foundry developer.

In this lecture, we cross the bridge from pure data engineering into business logic. You will learn how to take the clean datasets we built in the previous section and map them directly into the Foundry Ontology. I will walk you through defining Object Types, properties, and primary keys, transforming flat rows of data into dynamic digital twins of your real-world business assets.

It is time to put theory into practice. We are going to build out a complete Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Ontology from scratch. You will see exactly how to create Customer and Deal objects, and more importantly, how to build the crucial Links between them. This is the exact foundational structure used by Fortune 500 companies to power their sales and operational applications in Foundry.

Welcome to the Data Analysis section. Now that our data is clean and our Ontology is structured, we will dive into Contour. I will show you how to perform top-down analysis, filter massive datasets in seconds, and build dynamic visualizations—all without writing a single line of code. Contour is the essential tool for quickly answering complex business questions and prototyping dashboard metrics.

While Contour is great for massive dataset filtering, Quiver is where we perform granular, object-centric, and time-series analysis. In this lecture, I will show you how to analyze specific objects in our Ontology over time and build advanced analytical dashboards. Quiver is the analytical engine you will use when the business needs to understand complex relationships and historical trends.

Welcome to the Workshop module! This is where everything we have built so far—data pipelines, the Ontology, and analytics—comes together. Workshop is Palantir Foundry’s flagship low-code application builder. In this lecture, we will set up the foundational UI/UX of our operational app, exploring page layouts and dropping in our first core widgets.

A layout is just an empty shell until we feed it data. Now, we are going to wire our CRM Ontology directly into our Workshop application. I will walk you through binding your Object Sets to dynamic tables, metric cards, and charts. By the end of this lecture, you will have a fully functional, read-only operational dashboard.

Out-of-the-box widgets are great, but enterprise applications often require bespoke functionality. In this lecture, we will push past the basics and explore how to build and configure custom widgets. You will learn how to add complex interactivity and actions, turning your passive dashboard into a powerful read/write operational tool that users can rely on to execute real business decisions.

Workshop is incredibly powerful, but sometimes you need absolute, pixel-perfect control over your application's front end. Enter Slate. In our final front-end lecture, I will introduce you to Slate, where we combine HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with Foundry data. We will cover the core differences between Workshop and Slate, so you know exactly which tool to choose when architecting your next enterprise solution.