id,node_id,number,title,user,state,locked,assignee,milestone,comments,created_at,updated_at,closed_at,author_association,pull_request,body,repo,type,active_lock_reason,performed_via_github_app,reactions,draft,state_reason
1865983069,PR_kwDOBm6k_c5YvQSi,2158,add brand option to metadata.json.,52261150,open,0,,,0,2023-08-24T22:37:41Z,2023-08-24T22:37:57Z,,FIRST_TIME_CONTRIBUTOR,simonw/datasette/pulls/2158,"This adds a brand link to the top navbar if 'brand' key is populated in metadata.json. The link will be either '#' or use the contents of 'brand_url' in metadata.json for href.

I was able to get this done on my own site by replacing `templates/_crumbs.html` with a custom version, but I thought it would be nice to incorporate this in the tool directly.

![image](https://github.com/simonw/datasette/assets/52261150/fdfe9bb5-fee4-466c-8074-6132071d94e6)


<!-- readthedocs-preview datasette start -->
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:books: Documentation preview :books:: https://datasette--2158.org.readthedocs.build/en/2158/

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814595021,MDU6SXNzdWU4MTQ1OTUwMjE=,1241,Share button for copying current URL,7107523,open,0,,,6,2021-02-23T15:55:40Z,2023-08-24T20:09:52Z,,NONE,,"I use datasette in an `iframe` inside another HTML file that contains other ways to represent my data (mostly leaflets maps built with R on summarized data), and the datasette `iframe` is a tab in that page. 

This particular use prevents users to access the full URLs of their datasette views and queries, which is a shame because the way datasette handles URLs to make every view or query easy to share is awesome. I know how to get the URL from the context menu of my browser, but I don't think many visitors would do it or even notice that datasette uses permalinks for pretty much every action they do. Would it be possible to add a ""Share link"" button to the interface, either in datasette itself or in a plugin?",107914493,issue,,,"{""url"": ""https://api.github.com/repos/simonw/datasette/issues/1241/reactions"", ""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,
1855885427,I_kwDOBm6k_c5unpBz,2143,De-tangling Metadata before Datasette 1.0,15178711,open,0,,,24,2023-08-18T00:51:50Z,2023-08-24T18:28:27Z,,CONTRIBUTOR,,"Metadata in Datasette is a really powerful feature, but is a bit difficult to work with. It was initially a way to add ""metadata"" about your ""data"" in Datasette instances, like descriptions for databases/tables/columns, titles, source URLs, licenses, etc. But it later became the go-to spot for other Datasette features that have nothing to do with metadata, like permissions/plugins/canned queries. 

Specifically, I've found the following problems when working with Datasette metadata:

1. Metadata cannot be updated without re-starting the entire Datasette instance.
2. The `metadata.json`/`metadata.yaml` has become a kitchen sink of unrelated (imo) features like plugin config, authentication config, canned queries
3. The Python APIs for defining extra metadata are a bit awkward (the `datasette.metadata()` class, `get_metadata()` hook, etc.)

## Possible solutions

Here's a few ideas of Datasette core changes we can make to address these problems. 

### Re-vamp the Datasette Python metadata APIs

The Datasette object has a single `datasette.metadata()` method that's a bit difficult to work with. There's also no Python API for inserted new metadata, so plugins have to rely on the `get_metadata()` hook.

The `get_metadata()` hook can also be improved - it doesn't work with async functions yet, so you're quite limited to what you can do.

(I'm a bit fuzzy on what to actually do here, but I imagine it'll be very small breaking changes to a few Python methods)

### Add an optional `datasette_metadata` table

Datasette should detect and use metadata stored in a new special table called `datasette_metadata`. This would be a regular table that a user can edit on their own, and would serve as a ""live updating"" source of metadata, than can be changed while the Datasette instance is running.

Not too sure what the schema would look like, but I'd imagine:

```sql
CREATE TABLE datasette_metadata(
  level text,
  target any,
  key text,
  value any,
  primary key (level, target)
)
```

Every row in this table would map to a single metadata ""entry"".

- `level` would be one of ""datasette"", ""database"", ""table"", ""column"", which is the ""level"" the entry describes. For example, `level=""table""` means it is metadata about a specific table, `level=""database""` for a specific database, or `level=""datasette""` for the entire Datasette instance.
- `target` would ""point"" to the specific object the entry metadata is about, and would depend on what `level` is specific. 
  - `level=""database""`: `target` would be the string name of the database that the metadata entry is about. ex `""fixtures""`
  - `level=""table""`: `target` would be a JSON array of two strings. The first element would be the database name, and the second would be the table name. ex `[""fixtures"", ""students""]`
  - `level=""column""`: `target` would be a JSON array of 3 strings: The database name, table name, and column name. Ex `[""fixtures"", ""students"", ""student_id""`]
- `key` would be the type of metadata entry the row has, similar to the current ""keys"" that exist in `metadata.json`. Ex `""about_url""`, `""source""`, `""description""`, etc
- `value` would be the text value of be metadata entry. The literal text value of a description, about_url, column_label, etc

A quick sample:

level | target | key | value
-- | -- | -- | --
datasette | NULL | title | my datasette title...
db | fixtures | source | <description of my database source>
table | [""fixtures"", ""students""] | label_column | student_name
column | [""fixtures"", ""students"", ""birthdate""] | description | <description of the fixtures.students.birthdate column>

This `datasette_metadata` would be configured with other tools, and hopefully not manually by end users. Datasette Core could also offer a UI for editing entries in `datasette_metadata`, to update descriptions/columns on the fly.

### Re-vamp `metadata.json` and move non-metadata config to another place

The motivation behind this is that it's awkward that `metadata.json` contains config about things that are not strictly metadata, including:

- Plugin configuration
- [Authentication/permissions](https://docs.datasette.io/en/latest/authentication.html#access-permissions-in-metadata) (ex the `allow` key on datasettes/databases/tables
- Canned queries. might be controversial, but in my mind, canned queries are application-specific code and configuration, and don't describe the data that exists in SQLite databases. 

I think we should move these outside of `metadata.json` and into a different file. The `datasette.json` idea in  #2093 may be a good solution here: plugin/permissions/canned queries can be defined in `datasette.json`, while `metadata.json`/`datasette_metadata` will strictly be about documenting databases/tables/columns. 
",107914493,issue,,,"{""url"": ""https://api.github.com/repos/simonw/datasette/issues/2143/reactions"", ""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,
1858228057,I_kwDOBm6k_c5uwk9Z,2147,Plugin hook for database queries that are run,18899,open,0,,,6,2023-08-20T18:43:50Z,2023-08-24T03:54:35Z,,NONE,,"I'm interested in making a plugin that saves every query that gets run to a table in the database. (I know about datasette-query-history but thought it would be good to have a server-side option.)

As far as I can tell reading the docs, there isn't really a hook setup to allow this.

Maybe I could hack it with some of the hooks that are passed requests, but that doesn't seem good.

I'm a little surprised this isn't possible, so I thought I would open an issue and see if that's a deeply considered decision or just ""haven't needed it yet."" I'm potentially interested in implementing the hook if the latter.",107914493,issue,,,"{""url"": ""https://api.github.com/repos/simonw/datasette/issues/2147/reactions"", ""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,