Using Contacts¶

Contacts are schema-level objects that contain details about which user or group of users can be contacted for a specific purpose. For example, one contact named data_stewards might include an email distribution list while another named support_department might include the URL of the department’s website.

Contacts can be associated with other objects such as databases and tables so the right person can be contacted for assistance with those objects. For example, there might be a contact on a table that contains the users who can help gain access to the table. The purpose of the contact is not a property of the contact, but rather the association between a contact and a specific object. For example, the same contact might provide general support for one table while providing access approval for another.

An object can have more than one contact as long as the purpose of each contact is unique for the object. For example, a table might have one contact that grants access to the table and another contact that provides general support for the table. When a user views the contacts associated with an object, they see the purpose of each contact along with a communication method, so they know who to communicate with for a specific reason and how to reach them.

Data users see these contacts when they are using the Database Explorer in Snowsight to navigate their databases, schemas, and table-like objects. Snowflake features that send notifications to users can use the contact associated with an object to communicate with the users.

Inheriting and overriding contacts¶

Contacts are inherited by descendant objects. If you associate a contact with an object that is the parent of another object, the child, grandchild, and so on inherit the contact. For example, if you associate a contact with a schema, all of the tables in the schema inherit the contact by default.

Contact inheritance is overridden if a child object has a contact with the same purpose. For example, suppose someone associates the following two contacts with the ac_sch schema, which contains the table t1:


Contact	Purpose
`data_stewards`	Steward
`business_unit1`	Approver

Now suppose someone associates the contact finance_dept with t1 for the purpose of access approval. The contacts associated with t1 are now the following:


Contact	Purpose
`data_stewards`	Steward
`finance_dept`	Approver

The contact responsible for access approval on the ac_sch has been replaced with a contact directly associated with t1, but t1 continues to inherit the data_stewards contact from the schema.

All objects inherit contacts set on the account unless overridden by an association further down in the inheritance hierarchy.

Supported objects¶

You can associate a contact with the following objects:

Database
Schema
Table
Apache Iceberg™ table

External table
Dynamic table
Event table

View
Materialized view
Task (SQL only)

Create a contact¶

When you create a contact, you specify the name of the contact and how the contact can be reached. Communication methods include the following:

The URL of a website.
An email address, which can be a distribution list.
A list of Snowflake users.

You can create a contact using Snowsight or SQL.

Tip

Creating all contacts in a dedicated schema can be helpful.

Snowsight:

Sign in to Snowsight.
In the navigation menu, select Catalog » Database Explorer.
Navigate to the schema where you want to create the contact.
Select Create » Contact.
Specify the name of the contact.
Choose a communication method, then specify the email address, users, or URL of the people who can be contacted for assistance with an object.
Select the roles that will have the ability to associate the contact with objects. These roles are granted the APPLY privilege on the contact.
Select Create.

SQL:

You can execute the CREATE CONTACT command to create a new contact.

Examples

Create a contact for the support team that is reached through their website.

CREATE CONTACT support_dept URL = 'http://internalsupport.example.com';

Create a contact for the finance team that is reached via an email address, which acts as a distribution list.

CREATE CONTACT finance_dept EMAIL_DISTRIBUTION_LIST = 'fd_dl@example.com';

Create a contact for database administrators, as identified by the name of their Snowflake user objects.

CREATE CONTACT db_admins USERS = ('ex_admin1', 'ex_admin2');

Associate a contact with an object¶

When you associate a contact with an object, you specify the name of the contact along with the purpose of the association between the contact and the object. When users view all of the contacts associated with an object, they’ll be able to decide who to communicate with based on the purpose of each contact. If a Snowflake feature uses the contact to reach people, it will be able to select the right contacts based on the purpose.

The purpose of having a contact associated with an object can be one of the following:


Purpose	Description	SQL value
Approver	Approves or rejects requests to access data.	`ACCESS_APPROVAL`
Security and compliance	Receives security and compliance updates.	`SECURITY_COMPLIANCE`
Data steward	Provides information about the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of data.	`STEWARD`
Support	Provides technical support related to a dataset.	`SUPPORT`

You can associate a contact and define its purpose when modifying an existing object or creating a new object.

Associate a contact with an existing object¶

Snowsight:

Sign in to Snowsight.
In the navigation menu, select Catalog » Database Explorer.
Navigate to one of the supported objects.
Select the Details tab.
Find the Assigned Contacts section and select the Edit icon.
Select a contact for one or more of the purposes. For example, if you select a contact from the Approver drop-down list, data users will reach out to that contact when they need access to the object.
Select Save.

SQL:

The ALTER … SET CONTACT command for an existing object lets you associate a contact and specify the purpose of the contact for that object. The syntax to associate the contact is the same for all objects that can be associated with a contact:

ALTER <object_type> <object_name>
  SET CONTACT <purpose> = <contact_name> [ , <purpose> = <contact_name> ... ]

The purpose must be one of the predefined purposes, which describe the contact’s relationship to the object. When users view the contacts of an object, they use the purpose to determine which of the contacts to communicate with.

Examples

Associate the finance_dept contact with a table so users know who to communicate with when they need access to the table:

ALTER TABLE t1 SET CONTACT ACCESS_APPROVAL = finance_dept;

Associate the security_officers contact with the account so Snowflake features can send updates related to security and compliance:

ALTER ACCOUNT SET CONTACT SECURITY_COMPLIANCE = security_officers;

Associate the data_stewards contact with a schema so users know who to communicate with regarding object tagging of tables in the schema:

ALTER SCHEMA sch1 SET CONTACT STEWARD = data_stewards;

Note

If you want to set a contact on an existing Iceberg table, external table, or dynamic table, you must use the ALTER TABLE command.

Associate a contact when creating a new object¶

The CREATE … WITH CONTACT command lets you associate a contact with a new object. The syntax for the WITH CONTACT clause is the same for all objects that can be associated with a contact:

WITH CONTACT ( <purpose> = <contact_name> [ , <purpose> = <contact_name> ... ] )

For tables and table-like objects, the WITH CONTACT clause is specified after the column definitions.

The organization administrator can’t associate a contact when creating an account.

Examples¶

Associate the finance_dept contact with a new table so users know who to communicate with when they need access to the table:

CREATE TABLE t1 (col1 VARCHAR, col2 INT) WITH CONTACT (ACCESS_APPROVAL = finance_dept);

Associate the data_stewards contact with a new schema so users know who to communicate with regarding object tagging of tables in the schema and the finance_dept contact so users know who to communicate with when they need access:

CREATE SCHEMA sch1 WITH CONTACT (STEWARD = data_stewards, ACCESS_APPROVAL = finance_dept);

Detach a contact from an object¶

Snowsight:

Sign in to Snowsight.
In the navigation menu, select Catalog » Database Explorer.
Navigate to the object.
Select the Details tab.
Find the Assigned Contacts section and select the Edit icon.
Find the purpose (for example, Approver) that has the contact that you want to detach, and use the drop-down list to select None.
Select Save.

SQL:

ALTER … UNSET CONTACT command lets you detach a contact from an object. The syntax to detach the contact is the same for all objects that can be associated with a contact:

ALTER <object_type> <object_name>
  UNSET CONTACT <purpose>

You identify the contact to detach by specifying the purpose of the association between the contact and the object, not by the contact name. For a list of possible purposes that can be specified to detach a contact, see predefined purposes.

For example, to detach the contact that was added as the STEWARD of a table, run:

ALTER TABLE t1 UNSET CONTACT STEWARD;

Note

If you want to unset a contact on an existing Iceberg table, external table, or dynamic table, you must use the ALTER TABLE command.

View contacts for an object¶

Snowsight:

When you navigate to an object in Snowsight, the contacts that are associated with the object appear on the Details tab.

SQL:

Users with at least one privilege on an object can use the GET_CONTACTS table function to view the contacts associated with that object. The function returns a row for each contact associated with the object.

For example, to list the contacts on the table t1, a user with at least one privilege can execute the following:

SELECT *
  FROM TABLE(SNOWFLAKE.CORE.GET_CONTACTS('t1', 'TABLE'));

For each contact, the function lists the following:

Purpose of the contact.
Method of communication for the contact.
Whether the contact was associated with the object directly or inherited from a parent object.

Governing contacts and their associations¶

Snowsight:

To list the contacts that have been created in a schema and drill down into the details for a specific contact:

Sign in to Snowsight.
In the navigation menu, select Catalog » Database Explorer, and then select the schema.
Select the Contacts tab.
Select a contact if you want to view details about it, including the objects with which it is associated.

SQL:

The ACCOUNT_USAGE schema provides the following views to help manage contacts:

CONTACTS view - Lists all contacts in the account.
CONTACT_REFERENCES view - Lists the objects with which a contact has been associated.

Access control privileges¶

The following summarizes the privileges a user needs to work with contacts.


Task	Required privileges
Create a contact	Both of the following: CREATE CONTACT on the schema USAGE on the schema and database
Associate a contact with an object	Either of the following: APPLY CONTACT on the account APPLY privilege on the contact and OWNERSHIP on the object
List the contacts for an object	Any privilege on the object.
Detach a contact from an object	Either of the following: APPLY CONTACT on the account APPLY privilege on the contact and OWNERSHIP on the object
Modify an existing contact	Either of the following: OWNERSHIP on the contact MODIFY on the contact
Drop a contact	OWNERSHIP on the contact