DESCRIBE EXTERNAL AGENT¶

Describes the properties of an external agent. External agents represent generative AI applications in Snowflake for use with AI Observability.

DESCRIBE can be abbreviated to DESC.

See also:: CREATE EXTERNAL AGENT, ALTER EXTERNAL AGENT, DROP EXTERNAL AGENT, SHOW EXTERNAL AGENTS

Syntax¶

{ DESC | DESCRIBE } EXTERNAL AGENT <name>

Parameters¶

name

Specifies the identifier for the external agent to describe.

If the identifier contains spaces or special characters, the entire string must be enclosed in double quotes. Identifiers enclosed in double quotes are also case-sensitive.

For more information, see Identifier requirements.

Output¶

The command output provides external agent properties and metadata in the following columns:


Column	Description
`created_on`	Timestamp when the external agent was created.
`name`	Name of the external agent.
`database_name`	Database containing the external agent.
`schema_name`	Schema containing the external agent.
`owner`	Role that owns the external agent.
`comment`	Comment for the external agent.
`versions`	JSON array listing versions of the external agent.
`default_version_name`	Default version of the external agent.

Access control requirements¶

A role used to execute this SQL command must have at least one of the following privileges at a minimum:


Privilege	Object	Notes
Any one of these privileges: OWNERSHIP, USAGE	External Agent

Operating on an object in a schema requires at least one privilege on the parent database and at least one privilege on the parent schema.

For instructions on creating a custom role with a specified set of privileges, see Creating custom roles.

For general information about roles and privilege grants for performing SQL actions on securable objects, see Overview of Access Control.

Usage notes¶

To post-process the output of this command, you can use the pipe operator (->>) or the RESULT_SCAN function. Both constructs treat the output as a result set that you can query.

For example, you can use the pipe operator or RESULT_SCAN function to select specific columns from the SHOW command output or filter the rows.

When you refer to the output columns, use double-quoted identifiers for the column names. For example, to select the output column type, specify SELECT "type".

You must use double-quoted identifiers because the output column names for SHOW commands are in lowercase. The double quotes ensure that the column names in the SELECT list or WHERE clause match the column names in the SHOW command output that was scanned.

Examples¶

Describe an external agent:

DESCRIBE EXTERNAL AGENT my_rag_app;

Describe an external agent in a specific database and schema:

DESCRIBE EXTERNAL AGENT mydb.myschema.my_rag_app;