receiving, from a client device, a request to perform a query operation on a set of data objects stored in a remote data source, wherein the remote data source is remote from the computing system;

prior to accessing the set of data objects in the remote data source,

accessing a metadata cache storing metadata of one or more data objects, the metadata cache located at the computing system, and the metadata describing information of the one or more data objects stored in the remote data source;

identifying metadata corresponding to the set of data objects for the query operation in the metadata cache;

determining whether the identified metadata for the set of data objects meets an update condition, the update condition including a refresh interval indicating a time limit between two succussive updates of the metadata;

fetching, responsive to the identified metadata meeting the update condition, updated metadata for at least the set of data objects from the remote data source; and

storing the updated metadata in the metadata cache; and

performing, using the updated metadata, the query operation on the set of data objects.