Snowflake Streaming Destination Config Reference

Snowflake Streaming is a warehouse destination. RudderStack streams events as rows into tables in a Snowflake database through the Snowpipe Streaming API, in near real time, without staging files or a sync schedule.

In a Snowflake Streaming destination spec:

• type: snowpipe_streaming
• definition_version: 1

Sample configuration

version: rudder/v1
kind: destination
metadata:
  name: snowflake-streaming-prod
spec:
  id: snowflake-streaming-prod
  display_name: Snowflake Streaming Production
  type: snowpipe_streaming
  definition_version: 1
  enabled: true
  config:
    account: xy12345.us-east-2.aws
    database: RUDDER_EVENTS
    warehouse: RUDDER_WAREHOUSE
    user: "{{ .SNOWFLAKE_USER }}"
    role: RUDDER_ROLE
    namespace: rudder_events

    private_key: "{{ .SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY }}"
    private_key_passphrase: "{{ .SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE }}"

    enable_iceberg: false

    skip_tracks_table: false
    json_paths: track.properties.metadata,identify.traits.address

    underscore_divide_numbers: false
    allow_users_context_traits: false

    connection_mode:
      web: cloud
      cloud: cloud
    consent_management:
      web:
        - provider: oneTrust
          consents:
            - analytics

The above example authenticates with an encrypted key pair and writes standard Snowflake tables. Iceberg tables are a choice you make when you create the destination — see Iceberg tables.

Config keys

config accepts only the keys listed below. The shared config key rules cover unknown keys, defaults, and immutability.

Connection

Authentication

Snowflake Streaming authenticates with a key pair only.

export RUDDER_SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat rsa_key.p8)"

SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY: |
  -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
  ...
  -----END PRIVATE KEY-----  

Iceberg tables

By default, RudderStack creates standard Snowflake tables. With enable_iceberg, it creates Snowflake-managed Iceberg tables instead, which store their data as Parquet files in your own cloud storage. In Iceberg tables, JSON values are stored as VARCHAR strings and timestamps as TIMESTAMP_NTZ, without a time zone.

enable_iceberg: true
external_volume: RUDDER_ICEBERG_VOLUME

Table behavior

Snowflake Streaming only appends rows. It never writes a users table — identify events go to the identifies table only — and doesn’t merge, so it has no keys for either.

json_paths: track.properties.metadata,identify.traits.address

Legacy column naming

Both keys below preserve the column naming of destinations created before the behavior changed. Leave them at their defaults on a new destination. Neither can be changed once the destination exists — the API rejects the update.

Per-source keys

Both keys are objects keyed by the local source type — the tokens listed under Source types. A key naming a source type this destination doesn’t support fails validation.

connection_mode:
  web: cloud
  cloud: cloud

Source types

Snowflake Streaming accepts events from these source types in the mentioned connection modes:

Every source type is cloud only — events reach Snowflake from RudderStack’s servers, never in device mode.

The dashboard additionally offers Snowflake Streaming to AMP, Shopify, and cloud app sources. Rudder CLI doesn’t manage those connections, so amp, shopify, and cloud_source are invalid here.

Connect a source

An event stream connection to this destination is checked against two rules at validate time.

The source’s type must be supported. A source’s type resolves to one of the tokens above before the check — a JavaScript source resolves to web, and webhook and server-side SDK sources resolve to cloud. Every type an event stream source can resolve to is supported here, so this check always passes.

The destination config must carry a connection_mode entry for that source type. This lives on the destination spec, not on the connection spec. Without it:

destination 'snowflake-streaming-prod' config has no 'connection_mode' entry for source type 'web'

Snowflake Streaming needs no additional config keys to connect a source of any type.

Secrets

user, private_key, and private_key_passphrase are the secret keys. Write each one you use as a {{ .VAR }} reference and supply the value at apply time:

config:
  user: "{{ .SNOWFLAKE_USER }}"
  private_key: "{{ .SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY }}"
  private_key_passphrase: "{{ .SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE }}"

export RUDDER_SNOWFLAKE_USER="RUDDER_USER"
export RUDDER_SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat rsa_key.p8)"
export RUDDER_SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE="..."
rudder-cli apply

# or
rudder-cli apply --var-file secrets.vars.yaml

Note that:

• rudder-cli import writes only the secrets the API returns, as {{ .VAR }} references, and leaves the others out. Add any secret key it leaves out, then supply the variables before you apply — see Secrets.
• private_key spans several lines. Use a YAML literal block in a var file, or an environment variable that carries the key file’s contents — see private_key.

See How to Use Variable Substitution in Rudder CLI.

Changes by release

No changes since this type became available.

For changes across every destination type, see Destination Type Changes by Release.

See more

• Snowflake Streaming Destination for the warehouse, database, role, and user setup
• Snowflake Streaming with Iceberg Tables for external volumes and Iceberg table behavior
• Snowflake Destination Config Reference for the Snowflake destination, which loads data in batches on a schedule
• Destination Type Reference for Rudder CLI for the rules shared across destination types
• Destination YAML Reference for the spec envelope