The Scenario
A new architecture diagram is going into the engineering wiki next week, and it needs to include every data source connected to the Hex workspace — connection name, type, and creation date. You're also the person who's supposed to write the disaster-recovery runbook, which requires a complete inventory of all external dependencies.
The data platform engineer who originally configured the Hex connections is no longer at the company. You have Hex admin access. You do not have a document that lists what's connected.
The bad version:
- Log into the Hex workspace, navigate to the data connections panel.
- Click each connection to read its details — the UI shows you one at a time.
- Open the Excel workbook, type in the connection name, type, and creation date for each one.
- Do this for all fifteen connections, then verify you didn't miss any.
This is documentation work masquerading as a technical task. The data is all there. The bottleneck is the fifteen separate trips through the Hex UI.
The Easy Way: One Prompt in SheetXAI
SheetXAI is an AI agent inside your Excel workbook. It reads the workbook and talks to the Hex API — including the data connections endpoint — to pull the inventory you need in one pass.
Open the SheetXAI sidebar and paste this prompt:
List all Hex data connections and write their name, type, and creation date into my sheet — one connection per row, with headers in row 1.
SheetXAI calls the Hex API, iterates across all data connections, and writes the three fields starting from row 2.
What You Get
- Column A: connection name as configured in Hex.
- Column B: connection type — Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, PostgreSQL, or whatever the workspace uses.
- Column C: creation date in ISO 8601 format.
- All fifteen connections, listed in one call — no UI clicking required.
What If the Data Is Not Quite Ready
You need the connection ID as well as the display name
The disaster-recovery runbook requires the internal connection ID so the infrastructure team can reference it programmatically, not just the human-readable name.
Fetch all Hex data connections and write their details into my Excel 'Data Sources' sheet — include connection ID, name, and any available metadata.
You need to flag connections that are older than two years
Your data governance policy requires a review of any data connection that hasn't been reconfigured in more than 24 months. You want those flagged directly in the workbook.
List all Hex data connections and write name, type, and creation date into columns A through C. In column D, write "Review — over 24 months old" if the creation date is more than 730 days ago. Otherwise write "Current."
You need to cross-reference against a list of approved data sources
Your security policy only permits connections to sources on an approved list. Column A of the "Approved Sources" worksheet has the permitted connection types. You want to flag anything not on that list.
List all Hex data connections and write name and type into columns A and B of my sheet. For each type, check the Approved Sources worksheet column A. If the type is not found there, write "Unapproved — review" in column C. Otherwise write "Approved."
Document all connections, flag stale ones, flag unapproved types, and sort by risk in one pass
You want a single workbook that surfaces every connection, marks the old ones, flags anything not on the approved list, and sorts the highest-risk rows to the top — ready to paste into the runbook or hand to the security team.
Fetch all Hex data connections. Write connection ID, name, type, and creation date into columns A through D. In column E, write "Stale" if creation date is more than 730 days ago. In column F, cross-reference the type against the Approved Sources worksheet column A — write "Unapproved" if not found, "Approved" otherwise. Sort by column E descending, then column F descending. Write headers in row 1.
One prompt produces a risk-sorted inventory rather than a flat list you'd need to annotate manually.
Try It
Get the 7-day free trial of SheetXAI and open a blank Excel workbook, then ask it to pull your Hex data connection directory for an architecture doc or disaster-recovery runbook. For related Hex workflows, see Export All Hex Projects Into an Excel workbook or the Hex integration overview.