| Audience | Data teams, platform admins |
| Prerequisites | A connected data source (for example, Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks) |
General models let you make warehouse tables available for agent queries without adding them to your Customer Studio schema. Use general models for data that agents should be able to query — such as sales figures, competitive datasets, or web analytics — but that doesn't belong in audience building or sync workflows.
What you'll learn
- Understand when to use general models vs. parent models
- Add general models to your schema
- Configure permissions and column access
- Understand how agents query general models
Overview
As teams expand their use of agents beyond Customer Studio data, they often need agents to query warehouse tables that aren't suited to parent models. Examples include third-party sales data, product catalogs, web session logs, and competitive benchmarks.
General models solve this by providing a model type that shares governance and configuration features with parent models, but is scoped exclusively to agent queries. General models do not appear in the audience builder or sync flows.
When to use general models
| Scenario | Model type |
|---|---|
| Data should be available in the audience builder and sync flows | Parent model |
Data provides context joined to a parent model (for example, Households) | Related model |
Data represents timestamped user behaviors (for example, Product Viewed) | Event model |
| Data should be queryable by agents but not used in audiences or syncs | General model |
How general models differ from parent models
General models share several characteristics with parent models: columns, configuration tabs, column access controls, and descriptions. However, there are key differences:
- Primary key is optional. Unlike parent models, general models do not require a primary key.
- Bulk add from warehouse. You can select multiple warehouse tables at once when creating general models.
- Not available for audience building or sync configuration. General models can be managed in schema and governance surfaces, but they do not appear as selectable models in the audience builder or sync flows.
- Agent-focused model type. General models are intended for agent queries rather than Customer Studio activation workflows.
Add general models
1. Open the schema
Go to Customer Studio → Schema. Open the General models drawer.
2. Select tables
Click Add general model. In step 1 of the wizard, browse or search your warehouse tables and select one or more to add.
3. Add details
In step 2, name your tables and add descriptions to help the agent understand your data. Names and descriptions are optional but improve agent accuracy.
Click Create models to finish.
4. Configure each model
After adding, your general models appear in the drawer list.
Click into a general model to configure:
- Columns — review columns, add descriptions, and toggle column visibility for agents
- Description — add a plain-language description so agents can find and use the model effectively
Clear, descriptive model and column names help agents select the right data when answering user questions. Adding descriptions is optional but improves agent accuracy.
Permissions and column access
Model permissions
Adding, editing, and deleting general models requires the Configure schema grant on the source. General models reuse the existing model permissions managed through user groups and roles. The relevant per-model permission is View model data. Per-model permissions for general models appear in the Models tab in the role configuration panel, alongside Customer Studio schema model permissions.
Agents can only query general models that the end user has permission to access. If a user's group does not have the View model data grant for a particular general model, agents cannot query it on that user's behalf.
Column access
Each column has a privacy level that controls how agents can use it. You can block a column from agent queries entirely, redact values so agents can filter without seeing raw data, or fully approve the column for agent use. General models use the same underlying privacy system as other model types.
You configure privacy levels per column in the column detail view.
Row-level access
General models support row-level access using the same rule-group and rule system used elsewhere in Hightouch governance. Row-level access rules now apply beyond parent models and include general models. In agent queries, required rule filters are automatically applied where defined.
How agents use general models
Agents can query any general model the user has permission to access. There is no explicit model selection required when starting a chat or creating a report — the agent automatically identifies which models are relevant to the user's question.
