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Snowflake

Go from an existing Snowflake table to a tested data contract in about five minutes: import the schema straight from Snowflake, then test the actual data against it.

1. Install​

uv tool install --python python3.11 --upgrade 'datacontract-cli[snowflake]'

See Installation for pip, pipx, and Docker.

2. Set credentials​

Create a .env file in your working directory (or export the variables):

# .env
DATACONTRACT_SNOWFLAKE_USERNAME=<your-username>
DATACONTRACT_SNOWFLAKE_PASSWORD=<your-password>
DATACONTRACT_SNOWFLAKE_WAREHOUSE=COMPUTE_WH
DATACONTRACT_SNOWFLAKE_ROLE=<your-role>

If DATACONTRACT_SNOWFLAKE_PASSWORD is not set, the import falls back to browser-based SSO. For key-pair authentication and other modes, see the Snowflake Reference.

3. Create a contract from your tables​

Import the table metadata directly from Snowflake. This also generates a ready-to-test servers block:

datacontract import snowflake \
  --source <orgname>-<accountname> \
  --database ORDER_DB \
  --schema PUBLIC \
  --output datacontract.yaml

--source is your account identifier in the <orgname>-<accountname> format.

4. Test the actual data​

datacontract test datacontract.yaml
Testing datacontract.yaml
Server: workspace (type=snowflake, account=..., database=ORDER_DB, schema=PUBLIC)
╭────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────╮
│ Result │ Check                                           │ Field           │ Details │
├────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────┤
│ passed │ Check that field 'order_id' is present          │ orders.order_id │         │
│ passed │ Check that field order_id has no missing values │ orders.order_id │         │
│  ...   │                                                 │                 │         │
╰────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────╯
🟢 data contract is valid. Run 24 checks. Took 5.2 seconds.

5. Let it catch a violation​

The contract becomes valuable when it detects drift. Tighten an expectation — for example, add a quality rule to a schema in datacontract.yaml:

schema:
  - name: orders
    # ...
    quality:
      - type: sql
        description: No order has a negative total
        query: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM orders WHERE order_total < 0
        mustBe: 0

Run datacontract test datacontract.yaml again: every violation is listed as an error, and the command exits with code 1 — ready for CI/CD scheduling so you catch drift before your consumers do.

Server reference​

Connection details live in the contract's servers block; account, database, and schema come from there:

servers:
  - server: snowflake
    type: snowflake
    account: abcdefg-xn12345
    database: ORDER_DB
    schema: ORDERS_PII_V2

Reference​

All authentication options (key-pair, SSO, connections.toml) and the data type mappings: Snowflake Reference.

Troubleshooting​

  • 250001: Could not connect to Snowflake backend — the account identifier is wrong. Use the <orgname>-<accountname> format, without .snowflakecomputing.com.
  • Object does not exist or not authorized — the role in DATACONTRACT_SNOWFLAKE_ROLE lacks USAGE on the database/schema or SELECT on the table.
  • Test hangs waiting for MFA — interactive MFA pushes don't work well for repeated runs; use key-pair auth or an appropriate DATACONTRACT_SNOWFLAKE_AUTHENTICATOR.