Schema Too Large to Capture: What the Message Means and What to Do

Setup · Data Agent

Schema too large to capture

Your Network Agent reads the structure of each database you connect so Semantic Intelligence, Nova and your AI client can answer quickly. Very large systems can exceed the capture limit. This page explains the message, what you can do today, and what keeps working in the meantime.

About 3 minutes Any database connector

What this message means

When you add a database connector, your Network Agent captures its schema: the names of tables, columns, indexes and keys. Never the rows. That captured structure is what lets Semantic Intelligence describe your data, lets Nova write SQL, and lets an AI client connected over MCP find the right table in milliseconds instead of asking your database every time.

There is a limit on how large one capture can be. Some systems, typically a large ERP with tens of thousands of tables, are bigger than that limit. The capture is then rejected and the connector shows a message like this, with the real numbers for your database in place of the parts in italics:

If the connector captures several databases, the wording is instead This capture is larger than the limit, followed by the same numbers and the advice to narrow the connector’s schema capture database selection. The limit itself is the one shown in the message; it is set per organization and can change, so this page does not repeat it.

Nothing is broken. The connection test passed, the Agent is online, and the database is still yours to query. Only the stored copy of its structure is missing.

What you can do

1. Check which databases the connector captures

   Open Data Agents (under Data in the top menu), click the connector, then Edit. The Schema capture step lists the databases, schemas or owners that are ticked for capture.

2. Keep only the ones you query

   If several are ticked, untick the ones nobody reports on: archive copies, test databases, system or vendor-tool owners. Save. The Agent captures again with the smaller selection, and the message clears if the total is now under the limit.

3. Already down to one database? Nothing more to do

   When a single database is over the limit on its own, there is no selection left to narrow, and the message says so: Support has been notified; no change on your side is needed. The Query Streams team sees the rejected capture and reviews the limit for your organization. You are welcome to write to Support as well, especially if you want to say which parts of the database matter most to you.

What keeps working

• Queries run normally. Query Builder, Excel, Google Sheets, Automation and the REST API send SQL to your database through the Agent exactly as before. A query never needs the captured schema.
• AI clients and Nova fall back to a live read. Without a captured schema, an MCP tool call or a Nova question reads table and column names from the database itself at the moment it is asked. This works, but it is slower, and on a very large database a live listing may be shortened or time out. Asking for one table by name is the reliable path; see Schema that fits for how an AI client navigates a large database.
• Semantic Intelligence waits. Descriptions, business areas and relationship scans need the captured structure, so they start once a capture succeeds. Nothing is lost in the meantime.

Need a bigger limit?

The capture limit is set per organization, and the Query Streams team can raise it. If your work depends on a large database that cannot be narrowed, open Support and tell us the connector name and the database. We review the size, raise the limit where it is safe to do so, and trigger a fresh capture for you; the connector message changes to Captured when it lands. We do not quote a turnaround time here, because each review depends on the database in question.

Related guides

• Is the Agent online? What Offline means and how to fix it
• Schema that fits: navigate large databases by business area via MCP
• AI-ready databases: Semantic Intelligence for your AI client
• How Nova AI learns your database schema automatically
• Create a read-only database user for the Agent
• All guides

Facts source

Facts on this page: the Query Streams Portal and Network Agent as of 7 November 2026, with the connector’s own capture messages quoted word for word. The numeric limit is deliberately not repeated here; the message on your connector always shows the current one.