Resource budgets for Cortex Agents

A resource budget lets you monitor Cortex Agents spend for your account and take actions when it exceeds spending thresholds. This allows you to control costs for Cortex Agents and take automated actions such as revoking access when spending exceeds your configured limits. Resource budgets give you control over the credits consumed at an aggregated level for that specific Agent.

How resource budgets work

Resource budgets use Snowflake’s tag-based cost attribution model. You create a tag, apply it to a Cortex Agent object, and then associate that tag with a budget. Snowflake tracks credit consumption for the tagged object and evaluates spending against the budget limit periodically. The resource budget is useful for limiting the spend for the Cortex Agent object.

Snowflake enforces resource budgets with the following flow:

  1. You create a tag.

  2. You apply the tag to the Cortex Agent object.

  3. You create a budget and specify the tag to track spending for. As part of creating the budget, you also set a monthly spending limit in credits.

  4. You add a stored procedure to be executed when spending reaches a configured threshold of the budget. For example, you can invoke a stored procedure for alerting at 80% and another stored procedure for revoking access at 100%.

  5. Snowflake tracks credit consumption for the tagged object.

  6. When spending reaches a configured threshold of the budget, such as 80% or 100%, Snowflake executes the stored procedure defined for that threshold.

Snowflake calculates usage, evaluates thresholds, and triggers any configured actions periodically. After the budget is exceeded, it might take up to eight hours with standard budget (or two hours with latency optimized option) for the budget to be enforced.

Create a tag

  1. Create a tag to identify the cost center associated with the Cortex Agent object:

    -- Create a tag with allowed cost center values
CREATE TAG cost_mgmt_db.tags.cost_center
   ALLOWED_VALUES 'org-level'
   COMMENT = 'cost_center tag';

  2. Apply the tag to the Cortex Agent object to associate it with a cost center:

    -- Apply the cost center tag to the Cortex Agent object
ALTER AGENT IF EXISTS my_agent
  SET TAG cost_mgmt_db.tags.cost_center = 'org-level';

Set up a resource budget

You can use either Snowsight or SQL to create a budget and associate it with a Cortex Agent object.

  1. Sign in to Snowsight.

  2. In the navigation menu, select Admin » Cost management.

  3. Select Budgets.

  4. Select + Budget.

  5. For Location to store, select the name of the database and schema where you want to create the budget.

  6. For Name, use my_budget.

  7. For Budget (credits per month), enter a value, such as 10000, for the spending limit of the budget.

  8. To decrease the budget refresh interval so you can watch spending more closely, select Enable low latency budget.

  9. For Threshold, enter a value, such as 80, for the notification threshold.

  10. For Notify, enter email addresses to receive notification emails.

  11. Select Next.

  12. For Budget scope, add the tag on the Cortex Agent object to the resource budget.

  13. Select Create.

Now, Snowflake tracks credit consumption for my_agent against the my_budget budget with a 10,000-credit monthly limit.

Configure threshold actions

You can attach stored procedures that are executed when spending reaches specific thresholds, which are expressed as a percentage of the spending limit and apply to the monthly budget period. For more information, see Custom actions for budgets.

Send notifications

You can send notifications when spending reaches a threshold. For more information, see Notifications for budgets.

  1. Set the email to send notifications to:

    CALL my_budget!SET_EMAIL_NOTIFICATIONS(
  'budgets_notification_integration',
   'costadmin@example.com, budgetadmin@example.com'
);

  2. Set the notification threshold:

    CALL my_budget!SET_NOTIFICATION_THRESHOLD(80);

Revoke access

  1. Create a stored procedure that revokes access to Cortex Agents. In the stored procedure, you can limit access to a specific role to revoke USAGE for that role.

    -- Create a stored procedure that revokes access to the Cortex Agent object
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_revoke_agent_access(
   agent_name STRING, role_name STRING
)
RETURNS STRING
LANGUAGE SQL
AS
BEGIN
   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'REVOKE ROLE agent_' || agent_name || '_role FROM ROLE ' || role_name;
   RETURN 'Access revoked for ' || agent_name;
END;

    Important

    Ensure the role_name and the user do not have access to Cortex Agents through other roles. For guidance about configuring roles and privileges correctly, see User privileges and access control.

  2. Set a custom action that blocks access when 100% of the budget has been spent. You can also use custom actions for notifications.

    -- Provide access to the stored procedures
GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE budgets_db TO APPLICATION SNOWFLAKE;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA budgets_db.budgets_schema TO APPLICATION SNOWFLAKE;
GRANT USAGE ON PROCEDURE budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_revoke_agent_access(STRING, STRING)
   TO APPLICATION SNOWFLAKE;

-- Block access at 100% of the budget
CALL budgets_db.budgets_schema.my_budget!ADD_CUSTOM_ACTION(
   SYSTEM$REFERENCE('PROCEDURE',
      'budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_revoke_agent_access(string, string)'),
   ARRAY_CONSTRUCT('AGENT_NAME', 'ROLE_NAME'),
   'ACTUAL',
   100);

Note

You can also use custom actions to take action when spending is forecasted to exceed the budget limit. For more information, see Custom actions for budgets.

Handling exceptions to spending limits

In some cases, you may need to reinstate access after the budget limit is reached, like during earnings season or other peak periods. You can configure thresholds beyond 100%, up to 500%, to handle these exception scenarios.

The workflow assumes that access is revoked using the configured stored procedure when spending reaches a budget threshold. The admin reinstates a subset of the users and grants access back. When spending reaches 200%, the revocation procedure runs again as a hard stop.

  1. Create a stored procedure to reinstate access to the role:

    -- Create a stored procedure that reinstates access to the Cortex Agent object
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_reinstate_agent_access(
   agent_name STRING, role_name STRING
)
RETURNS STRING
LANGUAGE SQL
AS
BEGIN
   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'GRANT ROLE agent_' || agent_name || '_role TO ROLE ' || role_name;
   RETURN 'Access reinstated for ' || agent_name;
END;

  2. Configure a threshold beyond 100% with a stored procedure that reinstates access. This allows you to raise the effective budget for exception periods. Access is revoked again when spending reaches 200% of the budget:

    -- Add grants for this procedure
GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE budgets_db TO APPLICATION SNOWFLAKE;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA budgets_db.budgets_schema TO APPLICATION SNOWFLAKE;
GRANT USAGE ON PROCEDURE budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_revoke_agent_access(STRING, STRING)
   TO APPLICATION SNOWFLAKE;

-- Issue a reinstatement for a subset of users
CALL budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_reinstate_agent_access('my_agent', 'power_user_role');

-- Set another threshold at 200% as a hard stop
CALL budgets_db.budgets_schema.my_budget!ADD_CUSTOM_ACTION(
   SYSTEM$REFERENCE(
      'PROCEDURE',
      'budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_revoke_agent_access(string, string)'
   ),
   ARRAY_CONSTRUCT('my_agent', 'power_user_role'),
   'ACTUAL',
   200
);

Reinstate access

To ensure that users can access Cortex Agents again at the start of the next budget period, set the following stored procedure to be called when the budget cycle restarts.

  1. Create a stored procedure to reinstate access to the role:

    -- Create a stored procedure that reinstates access to the Cortex Agent object
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_reinstate_agent_access(
   agent_name STRING, role_name STRING
)
RETURNS STRING
LANGUAGE SQL
AS
BEGIN
   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'GRANT ROLE agent_' || agent_name || '_role TO ROLE ' || role_name;
   RETURN 'Access reinstated for ' || agent_name;
END;

  2. Set a cycle-start action for the budget:

    GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE budgets_db TO APPLICATION SNOWFLAKE;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA budgets_db.budgets_schema TO APPLICATION SNOWFLAKE;
GRANT USAGE ON PROCEDURE budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_reinstate_agent_access(STRING, STRING)
   TO APPLICATION SNOWFLAKE;

CALL budgets_db.budgets_schema.my_budget!SET_CYCLE_START_ACTION(
   SYSTEM$REFERENCE('PROCEDURE', 'budgets_db.budgets_schema.sp_reinstate_agent_access(string, string)'),
   ARRAY_CONSTRUCT('my_agent', 'power_user_role')
);

Setting alerts based on projected spend

To receive an alert or perform an action based on forecasted spend rather than actual spend, you can set the trigger type to PROJECTED. For example, to call a stored procedure named alert_team when projected consumption reaches 75% of the budget limit, run the following command:

CALL budget_db.sch1.my_budget!ADD_CUSTOM_ACTION(
   SYSTEM$REFERENCE('PROCEDURE', 'code_db.sch1.alert_team(string, string, string)'),
   ARRAY_CONSTRUCT('admin@example.com', 'Budget Alert', 'Spending at 75% of budget limit'),
   'PROJECTED',
   75);

List custom actions

  • To list all custom actions configured on a budget, use the GET_CUSTOM_ACTIONS method:

    -- View all custom actions on the budget
CALL budgets_db.budgets_schema.my_budget!GET_CUSTOM_ACTIONS();

For more information, see Custom actions for budgets.

Monitor usage

  • To view credit consumption per Cortex Agent object, use the budget’s usage reporting method:

    -- View usage for the current month
CALL budgets_db.budgets_schema.my_budget!GET_SERVICE_TYPE_USAGE_V2(
   '2026-02',
   '2026-03'
);

    The output includes the following columns:

    Column

    Description

    Service type

    The service category (AI)

    Entity type

    The object type (CORTEX_AGENT)

    Entity ID

    The unique identifier of the Cortex Agent object

    Name

    The display name of the Cortex Agent object

    Credits used

    The total credits consumed during the specified period

    Credits Cloud

    Number of cloud service credits used

Budget enforcement latency

Budget calculations and threshold enforcement are conducted periodically:

  1. Snowflake calculates credit consumption for the tagged Cortex Agent object.

  2. The system evaluates spending against all configured thresholds.

  3. If a threshold is reached, the associated stored procedure is executed.

  4. Usage dashboards are updated with the latest figures.

If you have enabled the low latency budget, your budgets are enforced in two hours after the budget is exceeded. Otherwise, it may take up to eight hours after the budget is exceeded for enforcement. You can trigger budget execution more frequently, such as every sixty minutes, to reduce the refresh interval.

Warning

There is an inherent delay between when credits are consumed and when the budget system detects the threshold breach. During the enforcement interval, spending can exceed the configured threshold before the action is executed. Plan your thresholds accordingly. For example, set an alert at 80% to give you time to respond before the 100% action is triggered.

Limitations

The following limitations apply to resource budgets for Cortex Agents:

  • Single-team resources only: Resource budgets apply to the entire Cortex Agent object.

  • Enforcement latency: Budget enforcement runs on a periodic cycle and may take up to eight hours after the budget is exceeded to enforce the budget. Spending can exceed a threshold during the interval before the action triggers.

  • Role-based access revocation: To revoke access at a threshold, you must create a dedicated role for the Cortex Agent object.

  • Monthly period: Budgets operate on a monthly cycle. You can’t configure resource budget periods.

  • Tag latency: When you change a tag on an object, it can take up to eight hours after the change to be reflected in budgets that use tags. For more information, see Custom budgets.

  • Entry point determines attribution: If a request starts in Snowflake Intelligence and invokes a Cortex Agent, that usage is attributed to Snowflake Intelligence. As a result, a budget whose scope includes only Cortex Agent-tagged resources (for example, tags applied only to agents) does not capture credits from requests initiated in Snowflake Intelligence, even when those requests invoke a Cortex Agent. To cover this usage, include Snowflake Intelligence resources in budget scope, or configure a separate Snowflake Intelligence resource budget (see Resource budgets for Snowflake Intelligence). Note, however, that Snowflake Intelligence-scoped budgets apply to all usage attributed to the scoped Snowflake Intelligence objects, not only to requests that invoke a specific Cortex Agent.