Snowflake Notification Integrations: QUEUE/EMAIL/WEBHOOK and Snowpipe Auto-Trigger

A Notification Integration is a Snowflake object that securely connects your account to external notification services. It comes in three flavors — cloud message queues (QUEUE), email (EMAIL), and HTTPS endpoints (WEBHOOK) — and is used for Snowpipe auto-trigger, task failure notifications, alert firing, and many other use cases.

Overview of the Three Types

QUEUE Type: Cloud Queue Integration

This is the most commonly used type for Snowpipe auto-trigger. Parameters differ by cloud provider.

AWS SQS Integration

-- Notification Integration for AWS SQS
CREATE OR REPLACE NOTIFICATION INTEGRATION aws_s3_notification
  ENABLED = TRUE
  TYPE = QUEUE
  NOTIFICATION_PROVIDER = AWS_SQS
  DIRECTION = INBOUND
  AWS_SQS_ARN = 'arn:aws:sqs:ap-northeast-1:123456789012:snowpipe-queue'
  AWS_SQS_ROLE_ARN = 'arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/snowflake-sqs-role';

-- Inspect the integration (returns SF_AWS_IAM_USER_ARN / SF_AWS_EXTERNAL_ID)
DESCRIBE NOTIFICATION INTEGRATION aws_s3_notification;

Azure Storage Queue Integration

-- Notification Integration for Azure Storage Queue
CREATE OR REPLACE NOTIFICATION INTEGRATION azure_blob_notification
  ENABLED = TRUE
  TYPE = QUEUE
  NOTIFICATION_PROVIDER = AZURE_STORAGE_QUEUE
  DIRECTION = INBOUND
  AZURE_STORAGE_QUEUE_PRIMARY_URI =
    'https://myaccount.queue.core.windows.net/snowpipe-queue'
  AZURE_TENANT_ID = 'xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx';

DESCRIBE NOTIFICATION INTEGRATION azure_blob_notification;

GCS Pub/Sub Integration

-- Notification Integration for GCS Pub/Sub
CREATE OR REPLACE NOTIFICATION INTEGRATION gcs_notification
  ENABLED = TRUE
  TYPE = QUEUE
  NOTIFICATION_PROVIDER = GCP_PUBSUB
  DIRECTION = INBOUND
  GCP_PUBSUB_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME =
    'projects/my-project/subscriptions/snowpipe-sub';

DESCRIBE NOTIFICATION INTEGRATION gcs_notification;

Snowpipe Auto-Trigger Wiring

Combine a QUEUE-type Notification Integration with Snowpipe to ingest data automatically the moment a file lands in cloud storage.

-- Create the Snowpipe with a Notification Integration reference
CREATE OR REPLACE PIPE raw_data_pipe
  AUTO_INGEST = TRUE
  INTEGRATION = aws_s3_notification
  AS
  COPY INTO raw.events
  FROM @raw.s3_stage/events/
  FILE_FORMAT = (TYPE = 'PARQUET')
  MATCH_BY_COLUMN_NAME = CASE_INSENSITIVE;

-- Check pipe status
SHOW PIPES LIKE 'RAW_DATA_PIPE';
SELECT SYSTEM$PIPE_STATUS('raw_data_pipe');

-- Pipe copy history
SELECT *
FROM TABLE(INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COPY_HISTORY(
  TABLE_NAME => 'RAW.EVENTS',
  START_TIME => DATEADD('HOUR', -24, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP())
));

EMAIL Type: Email Notifications

Use EMAIL integrations to send email notifications from Alerts or stored procedures.

-- Create the email Notification Integration
CREATE OR REPLACE NOTIFICATION INTEGRATION email_alerts
  ENABLED = TRUE
  TYPE = EMAIL
  ALLOWED_RECIPIENTS = (
    '[email protected]',
    '[email protected]'
  );

-- Email notification via Alert (anomaly detection example)
CREATE OR REPLACE ALERT high_cost_alert
  WAREHOUSE = monitor_wh
  SCHEDULE = '60 MINUTE'
  IF (EXISTS (
    SELECT 1
    FROM TABLE(INFORMATION_SCHEMA.WAREHOUSE_METERING_HISTORY(
      DATE_RANGE_START => DATEADD('HOUR', -1, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP())
    ))
    WHERE CREDITS_USED > 100
  ))
  THEN
    CALL SYSTEM$SEND_EMAIL(
      'email_alerts',
      '[email protected]',
      'Snowflake high-cost alert',
      'Credit consumption exceeded 100 in the last hour. Please investigate.'
    );

ALTER ALERT high_cost_alert RESUME;

WEBHOOK Type: HTTPS Endpoint Integration

-- Create the Webhook Notification Integration
CREATE OR REPLACE NOTIFICATION INTEGRATION slack_webhook
  ENABLED = TRUE
  TYPE = WEBHOOK
  WEBHOOK_URL = 'https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00/B00/xxxxx'
  WEBHOOK_SECRET = snowflake.secrets.slack_secret
  WEBHOOK_BODY_TEMPLATE = '{
    "text": "SNOWFLAKE_WEBHOOK_MESSAGE"
  }'
  WEBHOOK_HEADERS = ('Content-Type' = 'application/json');

Privilege Design

-- Create the integration (run as ACCOUNTADMIN)
USE ROLE ACCOUNTADMIN;

-- Grant USAGE on the integration to working roles
GRANT USAGE ON INTEGRATION aws_s3_notification
  TO ROLE data_engineer_role;
GRANT USAGE ON INTEGRATION email_alerts
  TO ROLE monitoring_role;

-- Build the Snowpipe as data_engineer_role
USE ROLE data_engineer_role;
CREATE PIPE ... INTEGRATION = aws_s3_notification ...;

Troubleshooting

Key Exam Takeaways

• QUEUE type is required for Snowpipe AUTO_INGEST; parameters differ by cloud provider
• EMAIL type restricts destinations via ALLOWED_RECIPIENTS
• Creating an Integration requires ACCOUNTADMIN privileges
• Use DESCRIBE INTEGRATION to retrieve the values (ARN / External ID, etc.) needed for cloud-side IAM configuration
• Snowpipe auto-ingest flow: S3 event → SQS → Notification Integration → Snowpipe → COPY INTO

Check Your Knowledge

Frequently Asked Questions