Logging into Snowflake

In the early stages of getting started with Snowflake, we recommend logging in using either Snowsight user interface or SnowSQL (the command line client available for download from the interface).

Then, once you’re more familiar with Snowflake, you can explore connecting to Snowflake using other methods.

Your Snowflake Account Identifier

All access to Snowflake is through your account identifier. See Account Identifiers for details.

Logging in Using Snowsight

To log into Snowsight:

  1. Point your browser at the URL containing your account identifier. Note that the URL must start with https://.

    If your web browser is able to communicate with the Snowflake service, the following login screen is displayed:

    Snowflake web interface login page

  2. Enter your credentials (user login name and password) and click Sign In.

For more information about the tasks you can perform in the Snowsight, see Snowsight Quick Tour.

Logging in Using SnowSQL

SnowSQL is the command line client for connecting to Snowflake to execute SQL queries and perform all DDL and DML operations, including loading data into and unloading data out of database tables.

Step 1: Download and Install SnowSQL

You can download the SnowSQL installer from the SnowSQL Download page. No authentication is required. This version of the SnowSQL installer enables auto-upgrade for patches.

For more detailed instructions, see Installing SnowSQL.

Configuring the Z Shell Alias (macOS Only)

If Z shell (also known as zsh) is your default terminal shell, set an alias to the SnowSQL executable so that you can run SnowSQL on the command line in Terminal. The SnowSQL installer installs the executable in /Applications/SnowSQL.app/Contents/MacOS/snowsql and appends this path to the PATH or alias entry in ~/.profile. Because zsh does not normally read this file, add an alias to this path in ~/.zshrc, which zsh does read.

To add an alias to the SnowSQL executable:

  1. Open (or create, if missing) the ~/.zshrc file.

  2. Add the following line:

    alias snowsql=/Applications/SnowSQL.app/Contents/MacOS/snowsql
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  3. Save the file.

Step 2: Connect to Snowflake and Initiate a Session

  1. From a terminal window, start SnowSQL from the command prompt using the following command:

    $ snowsql -a <account_identifier>
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    Where <account_identifier> is your account identifier. Note that when you specify your account identifier, do not include the snowflakecomputing.com domain name.

    You can further streamline login by specifying the -u option followed by your user login name:

    $ snowsql -a <account_identifier> -u <user_login_name>
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  2. When prompted, enter your login name (if you didn’t provide it when executing SnowSQL) and your password.

If you specified a valid account identifier, user login name, and password, the SnowSQL prompt appears.

Tip

For security reasons, you cannot specify your password as an option on the command line; you must wait for SnowSQL to prompt you for your password.

However, if you would like to skip entering information on the command line or you need to automate login, you can provide all the required account and user credential information, as well as additional Snowflake default usage information, as options in the SnowSQL config file.

For more detailed installation, configuration, login, and usage information, see SnowSQL (CLI Client).

Connecting Using Other Methods

In addition to the Snowflake web interface and SnowSQL, Snowflake supports numerous other methods for connecting, including:

  • Using 3rd-party client services and applications that support JDBC or ODBC.

  • Developing applications that connect through the Snowflake connectors/drivers for Python, Node.js, Spark, etc.

However, connecting to Snowflake using these other methods requires additional installation, configuration, and development tasks. For more information, see Connecting to Snowflake.

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