Getting started with Snowflake App Runtime¶

Install Cortex Code CLI or Cortex Code Desktop and the Snowflake CLI, then deploy your first app. Use Cortex Code to build from a description, or the Snowflake CLI if you already have code.

Set up your environment¶

Before you can build or deploy, install Cortex Code (CLI or Desktop) and the Snowflake CLI on your machine. Use the install guides below, then confirm the Snowflake Apps command surface in the next section.

Cortex Code¶

Use Cortex Code CLI or Desktop to scaffold, test, and deploy apps from natural language. Both bundle the snowflake-apps skill and use the Snowflake CLI for deployment.

Cortex Code CLI (macOS, Linux, and Windows):

Install and connect: Cortex Code CLI (including Windows instructions)
Custom skills and extensions: CoCo CLI extensibility

Cortex Code Desktop (macOS and Windows):

Install and sign in: Installation, onboarding, and authentication
Build and deploy Snowflake App Runtime apps: Building apps (starter card, in-IDE live preview, Apps view, and snow app deploy)
Product overview: Cortex Code Desktop

Snowflake CLI¶

Install the Snowflake CLI using Installing Snowflake CLI.

Confirm you’re on the latest version with snow helpers check-version:

snow helpers check-version

If that command isn’t recognized, your CLI is too old: follow the installation guide and upgrade. The command reports the version you have, the latest published version, and whether an upgrade is available.

Other requirements¶

Snowflake account: Use a paid account (trial accounts don’t support App Runtime).
Shared deploy defaults (recommended for team apps): For apps you plan to share, ask an account administrator to complete account administrator setup once, so deploys land in a shared database the whole team can use. Before those defaults are configured, you can deploy to your personal database to build and experiment; you just can’t grant other roles access to apps there.
Node.js 22+: Version 22 or later on your machine for local development (npm install, tests, npm run dev). Download Node.js (https://nodejs.org/en/download).

Build and deploy with Cortex Code¶

Cortex Code assistants scaffold, build, test, and deploy Snowflake apps from a natural language description.

Step 1: Describe your app¶

Use the snowflake-apps skill in your prompt:

> $snowflake-apps Build me a warehouse monitor that shows all my
  warehouses with their current state, credit usage today, and queued
  queries.

In chat, type /, select snowflake-apps, and describe what you want to build. See entry points for other ways to start.

/snowflake-apps Build me a warehouse monitor that shows all my
warehouses with their current state, credit usage today, and queued
queries.

The assistant scaffolds a Next.js project with a working UI, Snowflake data access, and an app.yml manifest.

Step 2: Test locally¶

Ask the assistant to run the dev server and open the app in your browser. In Cortex Code Desktop, the Agent Browser shows a live preview as you go. Describe changes in chat to update the app.

Run the dev server and open it in my browser

Step 3: Deploy¶

When you’re happy with the app:

Deploy this app

The assistant runs snow app deploy, which runs the full upload, build, and deploy pipeline. You get a live URL when the deploy phase completes.

Step 4: Open the app¶

Open the app

Ask the assistant to open the app, or use the URL from deploy output. In Cortex Code Desktop, you can also use the Apps view. The URL uses Snowflake SSO.

To let other roles open your app, ask the assistant to share it. The app must live in a standard database (for example SNOWFLAKE_APPS after account administrator setup), not a personal database.

Share this app with the ANALYST role

In Cortex Code Desktop, you can also use Share on the app in the Apps view.

Behind the scenes, this grants USAGE on the database, schema, and Application Service. To run it yourself (replace MY_APP_NAME and ANALYST with your service name and role):

GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE SNOWFLAKE_APPS TO ROLE ANALYST;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA SNOWFLAKE_APPS.PUBLIC TO ROLE ANALYST;
GRANT USAGE ON APPLICATION SERVICE SNOWFLAKE_APPS.PUBLIC.MY_APP_NAME TO ROLE ANALYST;

For OPERATE, MONITOR, and revoke patterns, see Access control for Snowflake App Runtime.

Step 6: Iterate¶

Make changes and redeploy. Each deploy produces a new package version and alters the running service in place. The URL stays the same.

Add a filter for warehouse state and redeploy

Build and deploy with the CLI¶

If you have an existing application or prefer working directly with code, use the Snowflake CLI. Cortex Code isn’t required for this path.

Step 1: Initialize your project¶

From your project directory, run snow app setup to generate an app.yml manifest:

snow app setup

Pass --app-name my_app_name when you want an explicit Snowflake identifier instead of the name derived from the current directory. To target a specific destination, pass --database, --schema, or --warehouse. Setup writes those values into app.yml as explicit overrides.

This creates an app.yml in the current directory that uses defaults from account administrator setup. After setup, the file typically references the shared SNOWFLAKE_APPS database. Leave code_stage and code_workspace unset unless you need to pin a backend; the CLI picks a workspace or stage at deploy time. For example:

version: 2

name: MY_APP_NAME
database: SNOWFLAKE_APPS
schema: PUBLIC
query_warehouse: SNOWFLAKE_APPS_QUERY_WH

ignore:
  - node_modules
  - .env*
  - __pycache__
  - "*.pyc"
  - .next
  - .git
  - snowflake.log

Setup resolves database, schema, and query_warehouse in this order: the explicit --database, --schema, and --warehouse options; then account defaults from administrator setup; then the personal database default (when account defaults aren’t set). After account setup, you normally don’t pick these manually. app.yml does not fill an unset database from the active CLI connection. The ignore list excludes build output and local-only files from upload.

Run with --dry-run to preview the resolved configuration without writing the file.

If the project already has a snowflake.yml, see Migrate from snowflake.yml to app.yml. Named targets are optional; add them when one project needs more than one deploy configuration, whether that’s a development, stage, and production lifecycle, several accounts with slightly different configuration, or variants of the app for different audiences. For a walkthrough, see Deploy targets. For the snow app setup options, see the snow app setup command reference.

Step 2: Deploy¶

From your project directory:

snow app deploy

The CLI runs the full snow app deploy pipeline: upload, build, and deploy. When the deploy phase finishes, it prints the live Application Service URL. The URL looks like:

https://<id>-<org>-<account>-<region>.snowflakecomputing.app/

This URL is stable across redeploys. It doesn’t change when you deploy a new package version.

Step 3: Open your app¶

snow app open

Use snow app open --print-only to print the URL without opening a browser. Use snow app open --settings to open the app in Snowsight instead of the live endpoint.

Grant USAGE on the database, schema, and Application Service so another role can open the app. Use the database and schema from your app.yml (for example SNOWFLAKE_APPS.PUBLIC):

GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE SNOWFLAKE_APPS TO ROLE ANALYST;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA SNOWFLAKE_APPS.PUBLIC TO ROLE ANALYST;
GRANT USAGE ON APPLICATION SERVICE SNOWFLAKE_APPS.PUBLIC.MY_APP_NAME TO ROLE ANALYST;

You can’t share apps deployed to a personal database. For more patterns, see Access control for Snowflake App Runtime.

What deploy does¶

snow app deploy uploads source, builds remotely, and creates or alters the Application Service. See Deploying with Snowflake App Runtime for build infrastructure, artifact repository storage, egress, and phase details.

If a deploy fails partway through, retry one phase with --upload-only, --build-only, or --promote-only. See Retrying a failed deploy.

With account administrator setup complete, snow app setup and snow app deploy use shared destination defaults. You focus on application code; Snowflake handles packaging and service lifecycle.

Query Snowflake from your app¶

After you have a live URL, your app can query Snowflake with no credentials to manage. The snowflake-apps skill adds lib/snowflake.ts, which wraps the driver; call querySnowflake from that module to run SQL.

For owner’s rights versus caller’s rights and caller grants, see Query Snowflake. For what Snowflake injects into the running app, see Runtime environment. For how to design those queries and secrets so they stay least-privilege, see Developing secure Snowflake App Runtime applications.

Other CLI commands¶

Beyond snow app setup, snow app deploy, and snow app open, the CLI provides additional commands for managing your app lifecycle:

Command	Description
`snow app validate`	Check that the target database and schema exist and that the project can be bundled. Use `--target` when `app.yml` defines named targets.
`snow app bundle`	Copy resolved artifacts into `output/bundle` so you can inspect what a deploy would upload. No Snowflake connection required.
`snow app events`	Fetch observability streams for the Application Service. Default is recent container logs (`--type log`, 500 lines, capped at 100 KB). Use `--type metric` or `--type lifecycle` for event-table telemetry, and `--since` / `--until` for a time window. See Observability for Snowflake App Runtime.
`snow app teardown`	Drop the Application Service and clean up associated objects (stage or workspace files). Use `--force` to skip the confirmation prompt.

Retrying a failed deploy¶

If snow app deploy fails partway through, you can retry just the phase that failed instead of starting over:

snow app deploy --upload-only: re-upload source files without rebuilding or redeploying.
snow app deploy --build-only: re-trigger the build without re-uploading or redeploying.
snow app deploy --promote-only: create or alter the service without re-uploading or rebuilding. (--deploy-only is a deprecated alias.)

Only one of these flags can be used at a time.