Project definition files¶

A project definition file called snowflake.yml declares a directory as a Snowflake Native App project. It is a version-controlled file that resides at the root of a Snowflake Native App project directory and can either be created manually or by Snowflake CLI as part of project initialization. As long as you can provide this structured file in the directory but choose to use your own independent project structure, Snowflake CLI can discover the relevant files and carry out its functionality as usual.

For Native Apps, your snowflake.yml would look similar to the following:

definition_version: 1

native_app:
    name: my_first_nativeapp
    source_stage: app_src.stage
    artifacts:
        - src: app/*
        dest: ./
        - src: src/module-add/target/add-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar
        dest: module-add/add-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar
        - src: src/module-ui/src/*
        dest: streamlit/
    package:
        role: <your_app_pkg_owner_role>
        name: <name_of_app_pkg>
        warehouse: <your_app_pkg_warehouse>
        scripts:
        - scripts/any-provider-setup.sql
        - scripts/shared-content.sql
    application:
        role: <your_app_owner_role>
        name: <name_of_app>
        debug: <true|false>
        warehouse: <your_app_warehouse>

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Project definition properties¶

The following table describes the project definition properties.

Project definition properties¶
Property	Definition
definition_version required, int	Version of the project definition schema, which is currently 1.
native_app.name required, string	Project identifier. This name allows Snowflake CLI to detect if an associated application package (derived from this name) exists in connected accounts and prevents tooling from interacting with unrelated (but identically named) objects in an account, by tagging the application or application package as belonging to this project. Both unquoted and quoted identifiers are supported. To use quoted identifiers, include the surrounding quotes in the YAML value (e.g. `’”My Native Application Project”’`). Default: `<native_app_project_directory_name>`
native_app.deploy_root required, string	Folder at the root of your project where the build step copies the artifacts. Once copied to this location, you can deploy them to a Snowflake stage. Default: `output/deploy`
native_app.source_stage required, string	Identifier of the stage that stores the application artifacts. The value uses the form `<schema_name>.<stage_name>`. The stage lives within the Application Package object. You can change the name to avoid name collisions. Default: `app_src.stage`
native_app.artifacts required, string	List of file source and destination pairs to add to the deploy root. If `src` refers to just one file (not a glob), `dest` can refer to a target `<path>` or a `<path/name>`. Destination paths that reference directories must end with a `/`. A glob pattern’s destination that does not end with a `/` results in an error. If omitted, `dest` defaults to the same string as `src`. You can also pass in a string for each item instead of a `dict`, which case, the value is treated as both `src` and `dest`. Example: - src: app/* dest: ./ - src: streamlit/* dest: streamlit/ - src: src/resources/images/snowflake.png dest: streamlit/ Copy
native_app.package.distribution required, string	Distribution of the application package created by the Snowflake CLI. When running `snow app` commands, Snowflake CLI warns you if the application package you are working with has a different value for distribution than is set in your resolved project definition. Default: `Internal`
native_app.package.name required, string	Name of the application created when you run the `snow app run` command. Based on your platform, Snowflake CLI uses the `$USER`, `$USERNAME`, or `$LOGNAME` environment variables. As with `native_app.name`, both unquoted and quoted identifiers are supported. Typically, you specify this value in the `snowflake.local.yml` as described in Project definition overrides. Default: `<native_app.name>_pkg_$USER`
native_app.package.role optional, string	Role to use when creating the application package and provider-side objects. Note If you do not specify a role, Snowflake CLI attempts to use the default role assigned to your user in your Snowflake account. Typically, you specify this value in the `snowflake.local.yml` as described in Project definition overrides. Default: Role specified in the Snowflake CLI connection
native_app.package.warehouse optional, string	Warehouse used to run the scripts provided as part of `native_app.package.scripts`, if any SQL commands within these scripts require use of warehouse. Default: Warehouse specified for the connection in the Snowflake CLI `config.toml` file. Note If you do not specify a warehouse, the application passes validation, but fails to install. Typically, you specify this value in the `snowflake.local.yml` as described in Project definition overrides.
native_app.package.scripts optional, string	List of SQL file paths relative to the project root. These files are executed as the provider when you deploy the application package, such as to populate shared content. Note that these files must be idempotent. You can also use Jinja templates in place of SQL files, but currently, the only variable allowed in this file should be named `package_name`, which will be replaced by `native_app.package.name`. Example: - scripts/schema1.sql - scripts/schema2.sql Copy
native_app.application.name required, string	Name of the application created when you run the `snow app run` command. Default: `<native_app.name>_$USER` Based on your platform, Snowflake CLI uses the `$USER`, `$USERNAME`, or `$LOGNAME` environment variables. As with `native_app.name`, both unquoted and quoted identifiers are supported. Typically, you specify this value in the `snowflake.local.yml` as described in Project definition overrides.
native_app.application.role optional, string	Role to use when creating the application instance and consumer-side objects. Default: Role specified for the connection in the Snowflake CLI `config.toml` file. Note If you do not specify a role, Snowflake CLI attempts to use the default role assigned to your user in your Snowflake account. Typically, you specify this value in the `snowflake.local.yml` as described in Project definition overrides.
native_app.application.warehouse optional, string	Warehouse used to install or upgrade the application. Default: Warehouse specified for the connection in the Snowflake CLI `config.toml` file. Note If you do not specify a warehouse, Snowflake CLI attempts to use the default warehouse assigned to your user in your Snowflake account. Typically, you specify this value in the `snowflake.local.yml` as described in Project definition overrides.
native_app.application.debug optional, Boolean	Whether to enable debug mode when using a named stage to create an application. Default: `True`

Project definition overrides¶

Though your project directory must have a snowflake.yml file, you can choose to customize the behavior of the Snowflake CLI by providing local overrides to snowflake.yml, such as a new role to test out your own application package. These overrides must be put in the snowflake.local.yml file that lives beside the base project definition. Snowflake suggests that you add it to your .gitignore file so it won’t be version-controlled by git. All templates provided by Snowflake already include it in the .gitignore file.

This overrides file must live in the same location as your snowflake.yml file.

The snowflake.local.yml file shares the exact schema as snowflake.yml, except that every value that was required is now optional, in additional to the already optional ones. The following shows a sample snowflake.local.yml file:

native_app:
    package:
        role: <your_app_pkg_owner_role>
        name: <name_of_app_pkg>
        warehouse: <your_app_pkg_warehouse>

    application:
        role: <your_app_owner_role>
        name: <name_of_app>
        debug: <true|false>
        warehouse: <your_app_warehouse>

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Every snow app command prioritizes the parameters in this file over those set in base snowflake.yml configuration file. Sensible defaults already provide isolation between developers using the same Snowflake account to develop the same application project, so if you are just getting started we suggest not including an overrides file.

The final definition schema obtained after overriding snowflake.yml with snowflake.local.yml is called the resolved project definition.

Limitations¶

Currently, Snowflake CLI does not support

Multiple override files.
A blank override file. Only create this file if you want to override a value from snowflake.yml.