Yi Li developed a foundational staging tables API for the Unity Catalog managed-tables initiative, focusing on enabling atomic and safer migration workflows. Working in the unitycatalog/unitycatalog repository, Yi designed and implemented a new API endpoint that initializes storage before converting to managed tables, establishing a robust prepare-and-convert process. The work included comprehensive API documentation and detailed request and response models, supporting seamless integration and onboarding for future managed-table features. Utilizing skills in API development and documentation, and working primarily with Markdown and YAML, Yi’s contributions laid essential architectural groundwork for managed tables, addressing migration safety and future extensibility in the platform.