Snowflake Connector

• Requirements
• Iceberg Table Support
• Metadata Ingestion
  • Incremental Extraction
• Query Usage
• Data Profiler
• Data Quality
• Lineage
• dbt Integration
• Troubleshooting
• Reverse Metadata

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Requirements

• USAGE Privilege on Warehouse
• USAGE Privilege on Database
• USAGE Privilege on Schema
• SELECT Privilege on Tables

-- Create New Role
CREATE ROLE <role_name>;
-- Create New User
CREATE USER <user_name> DEFAULT_ROLE=<role_name> PASSWORD='<password>';
-- Grant role to user
GRANT ROLE <role_name> TO USER <user_name>;
-- Grant USAGE Privilege on Warehouse to New Role
GRANT USAGE ON WAREHOUSE <warehouse_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
-- Grant USAGE Privilege on Database to New Role
GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
-- Grant USAGE Privilege on required Schemas to New Role
GRANT USAGE ON ALL SCHEMAS IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT USAGE ON FUTURE SCHEMAS IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
-- Grant SELECT Privilege on required tables & views to New Role
GRANT SELECT ON ALL FUTURE TABLES IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL FUTURE EXTERNAL TABLES IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL EXTERNAL TABLES IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL FUTURE VIEWS IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL VIEWS IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL FUTURE DYNAMIC TABLES IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL DYNAMIC TABLES IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
-- Grant IMPORTED PRIVILEGES on all Schemas of SNOWFLAKE DB to New Role,
-- optional but required for usage, lineage and stored procedure ingestion
GRANT IMPORTED PRIVILEGES ON ALL SCHEMAS IN DATABASE SNOWFLAKE TO ROLE <role_name>;

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Additional Privileges

• Incremental Extraction: Collate fetches the information by querying snowflake.account_usage.tables.
• Ingesting Tags: Collate fetches the information by querying snowflake.account_usage.tag_references.
• Ingesting Stored Procedures: Collate fetches the information by querying snowflake.account_usage.procedures & snowflake.account_usage.functions.
• Lineage & Usage Workflow: Collate fetches the query logs by querying snowflake.account_usage.query_history. For this, the Snowflake user must be granted the ACCOUNTADMIN role or a role with IMPORTED PRIVILEGES on the SNOWFLAKE database. For more information about the account_usage schema, see Account Usage.

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Iceberg Table Support

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How Table Classification Works

• Collate reads Iceberg-related metadata from Snowflake system table metadata.
• When Snowflake metadata resolves Iceberg table semantics, Collate classifies the table as Iceberg.

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Access requirements

• Catalog permissions: Grant read access to information_schema.tables and any required account usage views used by your ingestion mode.
• File system permissions: Direct object storage write permissions are not required for metadata ingestion. Keep read access aligned with your Snowflake external table and catalog setup.

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Metadata Ingestion

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Step 1: Add New Service

1. In the left navigation, click Connections.
2. On the Connections page, click Add New Service.

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Step 2: Select a Service and Connector

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Step 3: Add Service Name and Description

• Enter a unique, descriptive Service Name. Collate identifies services by their service name. Enter a name that distinguishes this deployment from other Snowflake services you are ingesting metadata from.
• Optional: Enter a Description for the service.

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Step 4: Configure Connection Options

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Select Ingestion Runner

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Enter Connection Details

• Username: Specify the User to connect to Snowflake. It should have enough privileges to read all the metadata.
• Password: Password to connect to Snowflake.
• Account: Snowflake account identifier uniquely identifies a Snowflake account within your organization, as well as throughout the global network of Snowflake-supported cloud platforms and cloud regions. If the Snowflake URL is https://xyz1234.us-east-1.gcp.snowflakecomputing.com, then the account is xyz1234.us-east-1.gcp.
• Role (Optional): You can specify the role of user that you would like to ingest with, if no role is specified the default roles assigned to user will be selected.
• Warehouse: Snowflake warehouse is required for executing queries to fetch the metadata. Enter the name of warehouse against which you would like to execute these queries.
• Database (Optional): The database of the data source is an optional parameter, if you would like to restrict the metadata reading to a single database. If left blank, Collate ingestion attempts to scan all the databases.
• Private Key (Optional): If you have configured the key pair authentication for the given user you will have to pass the private key associated with the user in this field. For more information about key-pair authentication, see Key-pair authentication and key-pair rotation. Ensure your private key is formatted correctly before passing it. The key must be a single line with all line breaks replaced by \n. For example, if you have the following multi-line key (raw format):
  -----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----
  MII..
  MBQ...
  CgU..
  8Lt..
  ...
  h+4=
  -----END ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----
  
  Replace it with the following single-line key (required format):
  -----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----\nMII..\nMBQ...\nCgU..\n8Lt..\n...\nh+4=\n-----END ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----\n
  
  Replace every newline character in your key with a literal \n, including after the final line.
• Snowflake Passphrase Key (Optional): If you have configured the encrypted key pair authentication for the given user you will have to pass the paraphrase associated with the private key in this field. You can checkout this doc to get more details about key-pair authentication.
• Include Temporary and Transient Tables: Optional configuration for ingestion of TRANSIENT and TEMPORARY tables, By default, it will skip the TRANSIENT and TEMPORARY tables.
• Include Streams: Optional configuration for ingestion of streams, By default, it will skip the streams.
• Client Session Keep Alive: Optional Configuration to keep the session active in case the ingestion job runs for longer duration.
• Account Usage Schema Name: Full name of account usage schema, used in case your user does not have direct access to SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE schema. In such case you can replicate tables QUERY_HISTORY, TAG_REFERENCES, PROCEDURES, FUNCTIONS to a custom schema, for example CUSTOM_DB.CUSTOM_SCHEMA and provide the same name in this field. When using this field make sure you have all these tables available within your custom schema QUERY_HISTORY, TAG_REFERENCES, PROCEDURES, FUNCTIONS.

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Advanced Configuration

• Connection Options (Optional): Enter the details for any additional connection options that can be sent to database during the connection. These details must be added as Key-Value pairs.
• Connection Arguments (Optional): Enter the details for any additional connection arguments such as security or protocol configs that can be sent during the connection. These details must be added as Key-Value pairs.

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Test Connection

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Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options

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How Filter Patterns Work

• Include: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. Collate ingests only assets whose names match at least one expression. Leave blank to include all assets.
• Exclude: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. Collate skips any asset whose name matches an expression. Leave blank to exclude nothing.

• contains: matches any name containing the value. For example, sales matches my_sales_data and sales_2024.
• starts with: matches names beginning with the value. For example, prod_ matches prod_db and prod_schema.
• ends with: matches names ending with the value. For example, _raw matches events_raw and logs_raw.
• is exactly: matches the exact name only. For example, analytics matches only analytics.
• matches regex: matches names using a regular expression. For example, ^prod_.*_v\d+$ matches prod_events_v1.

• Database: Controls which databases Collate ingests from the source.
• Schema: Controls which schemas within the ingested databases are included.
• Table: Controls which tables and views within the ingested schemas are included.
• Stored Procedure: Controls which stored procedures are included in metadata ingestion.

• Scan Mode: You can choose between the following scan modes:
  • Scan all: Ingests every asset of that type the connector can access. This is the default.
  • Only specific: Enables include rules so only assets matching at least one rule are ingested.
• Exclude system toggle: Use this toggle to automatically filter out system-reserved names defined by the connector — for example, Exclude system databases for the Databases section.
• Always exclude: Add permanent exclusion rules (shown in red). Assets matching these rules are never ingested, regardless of include rules.
• Preview: Shows a real-time summary of what will be in scope based on your current rules.
• Include rules (available only in Only specific mode): Click + Add to define a rule. Added rules appear as chips; an asset is included if it matches any rule.

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Step 6: Create & Deploy

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Configure Metadata Agent and Schedule Ingestion

1. In the left navigation, click Connections and select your service.
2. Click the Agents tab.
3. Click Add Agent and select Metadata from the dropdown. For some services, the dropdown is not available and clicking Add Agent takes you directly to the agent configuration page.
4. On the Configure Ingestion page, do the following and click Next.
   • Name this Ingestion: Enter a unique recognizable name for this ingestion pipeline.
   • Agent Setup: Configure core parameters for metadata extraction. The following fields are available:

     Field	Default	Description
     Default Owner	—	Owner applied to all entities when no specific level owner is configured. Accepts a user or team name/email.
     Service Owner	—	Owner assigned to the service entity.
     Database Owner	—	Owner assigned to all ingested databases. Accepts a single owner or a per-database name mapping.
     Database Schema Owner	—	Owner assigned to all ingested schemas. Accepts a single owner or a per-schema name mapping.
     Table Owner	—	Owner assigned to all ingested tables. Accepts a single owner or a per-table name mapping.
     Enable Inheritance	On	When on, child entities inherit the owner from their parent when they have no owner configured.
     Query Log Duration	1	Number of days to look back in query logs when processing stored procedure results.
     Query Parsing Timeout Limit	300	Timeout in seconds for parsing a single query.
     Number of Threads	1	Number of threads to use for parallel table ingestion.
     Incremental Extraction	Off	When enabled, subsequent runs only extract entities changed since the last successful run.
     Successful Pipeline Run Lookback Days	7	Number of days to search back for a prior successful run to use as a baseline for incremental extraction.
     Safety Margin Days	1	Additional days added to the baseline timestamp as a buffer for incremental extraction.
     JSON Schema Sample Size	10	Number of rows sampled to infer JSON column schema. Only applies when Extract JSON Schema is enabled in Advanced Config.

     
   • Filter Patterns: Apply include or exclude rules to scope which databases, schemas, tables, and stored procedures this agent ingests. For more information about various filter options, see Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options.
   • Scope & Behaviour: Control how the agent handles metadata during ingestion. Toggle each option on or off based on your needs:

     Toggle	Default	Description
     Include Tables	On	Ingest table metadata from the source. Turn off to skip tables entirely.
     Include Tags	On	Ingest tags from the source.
     Include Stored Procedures	On	Ingest stored procedure metadata.
     Include DDL Statements	Off	Ingest DDL statements alongside table metadata.
     Include Owners	Off	Assign owners to ingested entities when the source owner’s email matches a user in Collate. Does not overwrite an existing owner.
     Include Custom Properties	Off	Ingest connector-specific custom properties onto entities.
     Mark Deleted Tables	On	Soft-delete tables in Collate when they are removed from the source. Applies only within the currently ingested schema.
     Mark Deleted Stored Procedures	On	Soft-delete stored procedures in Collate when they are removed from the source.
     Mark Deleted Schemas	Off	Soft-delete schemas and all their child assets when removed from the source.
     Mark Deleted Databases	Off	Soft-delete databases and all their child assets when removed from the source.
     Override Metadata	Off	When on, source values overwrite existing descriptions, tags, owners, and display names in Collate. When off, Collate only updates fields that have no existing value.
     Enable Debug Log	Off	Sets the ingestion log level to DEBUG. Useful for troubleshooting.

     Note: Available toggles vary by connector. Stored procedure options only appear for connectors that support stored procedures.
     
   • Advanced Config: Optional connector-specific settings such as Include Views and Extract JSON Schema.
5. On the Schedule Interval page, set when the agent runs:
   • Schedule: Choose a preset interval (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly) or enter a custom cron expression.
   • On-Demand: No automatic schedule; trigger the agent manually when needed.
   
6. Click Add to deploy the agent.

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Incomplete Column Level for Views

GRANT APPLY MASKING POLICY TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT APPLY ROW ACCESS POLICY TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT APPLY AGGREGATION POLICY TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT APPLY PROJECTION POLICY TO ROLE <role_name>;
GRANT APPLY TAG TO ROLE <role_name>;

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Reverse Metadata

• Description Management: Snowflake supports full description updates at all levels:
  • Database level
  • Schema level
  • Table level
  • Column level
• Owner Management: Owner management is not supported for Snowflake, because Snowflake assigns object ownership to roles rather than to individual users. As a workaround, grant ownership to a role and assign that role to the desired user (for example: GRANT ROLE <role_name> TO USER <user_name>;). Transferring ownership with REVOKE CURRENT GRANTS can revoke existing object grants, so test this workflow in non-production first.
  -- Grant ownership on a table to the role
  GRANT OWNERSHIP ON TABLE <database_name>.<schema_name>.<table_name> TO ROLE <role_name> REVOKE CURRENT GRANTS;
  
• Tag Management: Snowflake supports tag management at the following levels:
  • Schema level
  • Table level
  • Column level
  Additionally, Snowflake supports automated masking policy application based on tags. For example, when you apply a Sensitive tag to a column in Collate, the corresponding masking policy will be automatically applied to that column in Snowflake.
  Tip: While Collate differentiates between “classification” values and “tag” values, Snowflake’s masking policies only support actions based on classification values (tag keys). Therefore, it is advised not to use PII.None along with tag masking policies.
  -- Create masking policy
  CREATE MASKING POLICY SENSITIVE_DATA AS (VAL STRING) RETURNS STRING -> CASE WHEN VAL IS NOT NULL THEN '**********' ELSE NULL END;
  
  -- Apply masking policy to PII.Sensitive tag
  ALTER TAG PII SET MASKING POLICY SENSITIVE_DATA;
  
• Custom SQL Template: Snowflake supports custom SQL templates for metadata changes. The template is interpreted using python f-strings. Here are examples of custom SQL queries for metadata changes:
  -- Set schema tag
  ALTER SCHEMA {database}.{schema} SET TAG {database}.{schema}.{tag_key} = '{tag_value}';
  
  The list of variables for custom SQL can be found here.
• Requirements for Reverse Metadata: Reverse metadata builds on the basic ingestion privileges. Grant only what the features you use need:
  • Database description: MODIFY on the database
  • Schema description: MODIFY on the schema
  • Table, view or column description: OWNERSHIP of the object
  • Tags: CREATE TAG on the schema, plus APPLY TAG on the account
  • Reading existing tags: the SNOWFLAKE.GOVERNANCE_VIEWER database role
  Note: Descriptions require OWNERSHIP of the object. Snowflake only permits ALTER TABLE/VIEW ... SET COMMENT to the owning role.Tags on objects the role already owns work without APPLY TAG. The account-level APPLY TAG privilege is only needed to tag objects the role does not own.

  Placeholder	Description
  <role_name>	Name of the new Snowflake role you want to create and assign to the user
  <user_name>	Username for the new Snowflake user being created
  <password>	A strong password for the new Snowflake user
  <warehouse_name>	Name of the Snowflake warehouse the new role needs access to
  <database_name>	Name of the Snowflake database from which you want to ingest data
  <schema_name>	Name of the Snowflake schema within the database from which you want to ingest data

  -- Reuse the role created for metadata ingestion, or create a dedicated one
  GRANT USAGE ON WAREHOUSE <warehouse_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
  GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
  GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA <database_name>.<schema_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
  
  -- Descriptions on database and schema (MODIFY, no ownership)
  GRANT MODIFY ON DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
  GRANT MODIFY ON SCHEMA <database_name>.<schema_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
  
  -- Descriptions on tables, views and columns (ownership of the objects)
  -- WARNING: Transferring ownership can revoke existing object grants (due to REVOKE CURRENT GRANTS). Test in non-prod first.
  GRANT OWNERSHIP ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA <database_name>.<schema_name> TO ROLE <role_name> REVOKE CURRENT GRANTS;
  GRANT OWNERSHIP ON ALL VIEWS IN SCHEMA <database_name>.<schema_name> TO ROLE <role_name> REVOKE CURRENT GRANTS;
  
  -- Tags: create and apply without owning every object
  GRANT CREATE TAG ON SCHEMA <database_name>.<schema_name> TO ROLE <role_name>;
  GRANT APPLY TAG ON ACCOUNT TO ROLE <role_name>;
  
  -- Read existing tag assignments
  GRANT DATABASE ROLE SNOWFLAKE.GOVERNANCE_VIEWER TO ROLE <role_name>;
  

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Troubleshooting