Snowflake

Snowflake provides a cloud data platform where publishers can unify and analyze audience and advertising data securely.

Setup

Troubleshooting

Overview

The Snowflake integration enables publishers to leverage Permutive’s bi-directional data capabilities with their Snowflake data warehouse. This integration operates in two modes: Routing (Destination): Stream first-party event data from Permutive to Snowflake. Read more in Routing documentation.

Routing capability requires the Routing package in addition to Core Platform. Contact your Customer Success Manager to enable Routing.

Connectivity (Source): Import audience data from your Snowflake warehouse into Permutive for cohort building and activation across your publisher inventory. Use cases include:

Unifying first-party audience data with advertising and CRM data in Snowflake
Building a single view of your audience by combining Permutive data with other data sources
Creating segments and insights in Snowflake for activation in Permutive
Running custom analytics and reporting on raw Permutive event data

Environment Compatibility

Environment	Supported	Notes
Web		—
iOS		—
Android		—
CTV		—
API Direct		—

Prerequisites

For Routing (exporting data to Snowflake):

Active Snowflake account with appropriate permissions
Ability to create database, schema, tables, stages, and pipes in Snowflake
Ability to create users with key-pair authentication (password authentication is not supported)
Access to a Snowflake warehouse for data loading operations
Snowflake account URL in the format: https://<organization-id>-<account-id>.snowflakecomputing.com

Setup

Routing Streaming Setup
Connectivity Setup

Setting up Snowflake routing involves creating a dedicated database, schema, user, and role in your Snowflake instance, then configuring key-pair authentication so Permutive can stream event data via Snowpipe. Once configured, Permutive will complete the storage integration and begin streaming data automatically.

Prerequisites

Active Snowflake account with administrative permissions
Ability to create databases, schemas, users, roles, and storage integrations
Access to a Snowflake warehouse
Snowflake account URL in the format: https://<organization-id>-<account-id>.snowflakecomputing.com

Snowflake Routing requires key-pair authentication. Password authentication is not supported.

For the complete step-by-step setup guide with SQL scripts and permissions configuration, see Setting Up Snowflake Routing.

What Happens After Setup

Once routing is active:

Tables are created automatically for events, aliases, and segment metadata
Events stream via Snowpipe in approximately 5-minute or 500MB batches
All event types appear in a single EVENTS table with an EVENTNAME column to distinguish types
Schemas update automatically when you add new event types or properties

Prerequisites

A Snowflake account with SECURITYADMIN and ACCOUNTADMIN roles
Access to run SQL scripts in your Snowflake instance
Knowledge of the database, schema, and warehouse you want to connect

Step 1: Set Up Your Snowflake Instance

Run a setup script to create a dedicated user and role with read-only permissions. Choose between password authentication or key pair authentication.

Password Authentication
Key Pair Authentication

Replace the placeholders and run the following script:

begin;
   set role_name = 'PERMUTIVE_ROLE';
   set user_name = 'PERMUTIVE_USER';
   set user_password = '<PASSWORD>';
   set warehouse_name = '<WAREHOUSE_NAME>';
   set database_name = '<DATABASE_NAME>';
   set schema_name = '<SCHEMA_NAME>';

   use role securityadmin;
   create role if not exists identifier($role_name);
   create user if not exists identifier($user_name)
     password = $user_password
     default_role = $role_name
     default_warehouse = $warehouse_name;
   grant role identifier($role_name) to user identifier($user_name);

   use role ACCOUNTADMIN;
   grant usage on warehouse identifier($warehouse_name) to role identifier($role_name);
   grant usage on database identifier($database_name) to role identifier($role_name);
   use database identifier($database_name);
   grant usage on schema identifier($schema_name) to role identifier($role_name);
   grant select on all TABLES in schema identifier($schema_name) to role identifier($role_name);
   grant select on future TABLES in schema identifier($schema_name) to role identifier($role_name);
commit;

Step 2: Configure Network Policy (Optional)

If you use Network Policies, add Permutive’s IP addresses to your allowlist. See the complete guide for the full list of IPs.

Step 3: Create the Connection in Permutive

Select Snowflake from the Catalog

In the Permutive dashboard, go to Connectivity > Catalog and select Snowflake.

Enter Connection Details

Field	Description
Database	The database name (use UPPERCASE)
Host	Your Snowflake account URL (without `https://` prefix)
Port	Leave as default `443`
User	The user created by the script (`PERMUTIVE_USER`)
Role	The role created by the script (`PERMUTIVE_ROLE`)
Password	The password from your script
Warehouse	The Snowflake compute warehouse to use

Snowflake uses UPPERCASE for all database, schema, user, and role names.

Save the Connection

Click Save to create the connection. It will appear on your Connections page with a “Processing” status while Permutive validates the credentials.

Step 4: Create an Import

Once your connection is active, go to Connectivity > Imports and click Create Import, then select your Snowflake connection.For the complete setup guide with detailed instructions, see Connecting to Snowflake.

Data Types

When Routing is enabled, Permutive creates the following tables in your Snowflake instance to store event data and metadata:

EVENTS Table

The main events table contains all user interaction data collected by Permutive.

TIMESTAMP

The timestamp when the event occurred.

VARCHAR

Your Permutive organization identifier.

VARCHAR

The workspace (project) ID where the event was collected.

VARCHAR

Unique identifier for the page view session.

VARCHAR

Unique identifier for the user session.

VARCHAR

The Permutive user identifier.

VARCHAR

Unique identifier for this specific event.

VARCHAR

The name/type of the event (e.g., PageView, Pageview, SlotViewable).

ARRAY

Array of segment IDs (integers) that the user belongs to at the time of the event.

OBJECT

JSON object containing event-specific properties and metadata. Structure varies by event type.

SYNC_ALIASES Table

Contains user identity synchronization data for cross-device and cross-context tracking.

TIMESTAMP

The timestamp when the alias sync occurred.

VARCHAR

Type of sync event (e.g., “alias_sync”).

VARCHAR

The Permutive user identifier.

VARCHAR

The workspace (project) ID.

VARCHAR

The external identifier being synced (e.g., hashed email, device ID).

VARCHAR

The type/tag of the external identifier (e.g., “email_sha256”, “device_id”).

SEGMENTS Table

Metadata table containing information about segments configured in your Permutive workspace.

TIMESTAMP

When the segment metadata was inserted/updated in Snowflake.

VARCHAR

The workspace (project) ID.

VARCHAR

Human-readable name of the segment.

ARRAY

Array of tags associated with the segment.

OBJECT

JSON object containing additional segment metadata (e.g., description, creation date).

VARCHAR

The segment ID number as a string.

Troubleshooting

Data not appearing in Snowflake after setup

Symptoms: No data visible in the EVENTS table after completing Routing setup.Solutions:

Wait at least 5-10 minutes after setup completion for initial data flow
Verify Snowpipe is running:
SHOW PIPES IN SCHEMA PERMUTIVE.DATA;
Check pipe status - it should show as “RUNNING”
Verify the storage integration was created successfully:
SHOW INTEGRATIONS;
Contact Support if no data appears after 15 minutes

Key-pair authentication errors

Symptoms: Authentication failures when connecting to Snowflake, errors like “Invalid key” or “Authentication failed”.Solutions:

Ensure the private key is in PKCS8 PEM format:

openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -in old_key.pem -out new_key.p8 -nocrypt

When setting RSA_PUBLIC_KEY on the Snowflake user, ensure you:
- Remove the -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY----- header
- Remove the -----END PUBLIC KEY----- footer
- Concatenate all remaining lines into a single string (no line breaks)
Verify the public key is correctly attached to the user:
DESC USER permutive_routing;
Check the RSA_PUBLIC_KEY_FP field is populated
If using an existing key pair, regenerate a fresh key pair following the setup instructions

Permission denied errors

Symptoms: Errors indicating insufficient permissions when Permutive attempts to create tables, stages, or pipes.Solutions:

Verify the role has all required permissions:

SHOW GRANTS TO ROLE permutive_routing_role;

Ensure the following grants are present:
- USAGE on database
- USAGE, CREATE TABLE, CREATE STAGE, CREATE PIPE on schema
- CREATE INTEGRATION on account
- OPERATE on future pipes
- USAGE on warehouse
If any grants are missing, re-run the permission grant commands from the setup guide

Ensure the user’s default role is set correctly:

ALTER USER permutive_routing SET DEFAULT_ROLE = permutive_routing_role;

Changelog

No changes listed yet. For detailed changelog information, visit our Changelog.

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Snowflake

Snowflake

Setup

Troubleshooting

Overview

Environment Compatibility

Prerequisites

Setup

Prerequisites

What Happens After Setup

Prerequisites

Step 1: Set Up Your Snowflake Instance

Step 2: Configure Network Policy (Optional)

Step 3: Create the Connection in Permutive

Step 4: Create an Import

Data Types

Troubleshooting

Changelog

​Snowflake

Setup

Troubleshooting

​Overview

​Environment Compatibility

​Prerequisites

​Setup

​Prerequisites

​What Happens After Setup

​Prerequisites

​Step 1: Set Up Your Snowflake Instance

​Step 2: Configure Network Policy (Optional)

​Step 3: Create the Connection in Permutive

​Step 4: Create an Import

​Data Types

​Troubleshooting

​Changelog

Snowflake

Overview

Environment Compatibility

Prerequisites

Setup

Prerequisites

What Happens After Setup

Prerequisites

Step 1: Set Up Your Snowflake Instance

Step 2: Configure Network Policy (Optional)

Step 3: Create the Connection in Permutive

Step 4: Create an Import

Data Types

Troubleshooting

Changelog