snowflake-analytics-mcp-server

A Model Context Protocol server for Snowflake. It connects to Snowflake via the official snowflake-sdk driver (pure Node — no client binary needed) and exposes table-discovery, SQL query, and Cortex AI tools over stdio. Runnable directly with npx.

Install

npm install -g snowflake-analytics-mcp-server
# or run directly (no install):
npx -y snowflake-analytics-mcp-server

Configuration

All credentials come from environment variables.

| Variable | Required | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | SNOWFLAKE_ACCOUNT | ✅ | — | Account identifier, e.g. xy12345.eu-central-1 or orgname-account_name | | SNOWFLAKE_USERNAME | ✅ | — | Login name | | SNOWFLAKE_PASSWORD | ✅ (password auth) | — | Password (required unless using key-pair/OAuth) | | SNOWFLAKE_WAREHOUSE | — | — | Virtual warehouse to use | | SNOWFLAKE_DATABASE | recommended | — | Default database (used by list_tables, and as the fallback when a caller passes an inaccessible database) | | SNOWFLAKE_SCHEMA | recommended | — | Default schema | | SNOWFLAKE_ROLE | — | — | Role to assume | | SNOWFLAKE_AUTHENTICATOR | — | SNOWFLAKE | SNOWFLAKE (password), SNOWFLAKE_JWT (key-pair), OAUTH | | SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY | key-pair | — | PEM private key contents | | SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH | key-pair | — | Path to a PEM private key file (alternative to above) | | SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE | — | — | Passphrase, if the key is encrypted | | SNOWFLAKE_TOKEN | OAuth | — | OAuth access token (with SNOWFLAKE_AUTHENTICATOR=OAUTH) | | SNOWFLAKE_READ_ONLY | — | true | Blocks writes/DDL in execute_query. Set false to allow them | | SNOWFLAKE_ROW_LIMIT | — | 1000 | Hard cap on returned rows | | QUERY_TIMEOUT_MS | — | 60000 | Client-side query timeout | | SNOWFLAKE_CORTEX_ENABLED | — | true | Register the Cortex AI tools. Set false to hide them | | SNOWFLAKE_CORTEX_MODEL | — | llama3.1-8b | Default model for Cortex AI_COMPLETE / text-to-SQL |

Account identifier tip

Use hyphens, not underscores, in the account identifier if a client has trouble connecting (e.g. orgname-account-name).

Claude Desktop config

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "snowflake": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "snowflake-analytics-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "SNOWFLAKE_ACCOUNT": "xy12345.eu-central-1",
        "SNOWFLAKE_USERNAME": "ANALYTICS_USER",
        "SNOWFLAKE_PASSWORD": "••••••••",
        "SNOWFLAKE_WAREHOUSE": "COMPUTE_WH",
        "SNOWFLAKE_DATABASE": "ANALYTICS_DB",
        "SNOWFLAKE_SCHEMA": "PUBLIC",
        "SNOWFLAKE_ROLE": "ANALYST"
      }
    }
  }
}

Key-pair auth example

"env": {
  "SNOWFLAKE_ACCOUNT": "xy12345.eu-central-1",
  "SNOWFLAKE_USERNAME": "ANALYTICS_USER",
  "SNOWFLAKE_AUTHENTICATOR": "SNOWFLAKE_JWT",
  "SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH": "/path/to/rsa_key.p8",
  "SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE": "••••••••",
  "SNOWFLAKE_DATABASE": "ANALYTICS_DB",
  "SNOWFLAKE_SCHEMA": "PUBLIC"
}

Tools

SQL & discovery

| Tool | Args | Description | |---|---|---| | list_tables | database?, schema?, include_views? | Returns { table_name }[] for table discovery | | test_connection | — | Returns version, account, user, role, warehouse, database, schema | | list_databases | — | Databases visible to the current role | | list_schemas | database? | Schemas in a database | | list_warehouses | — | Warehouses with size/state | | describe_table | table, database?, schema? | Columns, types, nullability, defaults | | get_table_sample | table, database?, schema?, limit? | Preview rows from a table | | execute_query | query | Run SQL. Read-only unless SNOWFLAKE_READ_ONLY=false |

Cortex AI

These are additive generative-AI tools (token-billed, higher latency than the SQL tools). Each is invoked as a SELECT, so they work with SNOWFLAKE_READ_ONLY=true. Disable them with SNOWFLAKE_CORTEX_ENABLED=false.

| Tool | Args | Description | |---|---|---| | cortex_ask | question, database?, schema?, model? | Natural-language question → generated read-only SQL → answer. Best for analytics like "what is total revenue" | | cortex_complete | prompt, model? | Free-form LLM completion via AI_COMPLETE | | cortex_sentiment | text | Sentiment of a text via AI_SENTIMENT | | cortex_summarize | text | Concise summary of a text | | cortex_classify | text, categories[] | Classify text into your categories via AI_CLASSIFY | | cortex_translate | text, to_language, from_language? | Translate text (source auto-detected when omitted) |

cortex_ask generates SQL and always restricts it to read-only statements, regardless of SNOWFLAKE_READ_ONLY.

Cortex prerequisites: the account must be in a region that supports Cortex, and the connecting role needs the SNOWFLAKE.CORTEX_USER database role plus the USE AI FUNCTIONS privilege. If a Cortex call fails on region or privileges, the tool returns a hint explaining what to grant.

Database resolution

list_tables, describe_table, get_table_sample, list_schemas, and cortex_ask accept an optional database. If the value passed isn't an accessible database, the tool falls back to SNOWFLAKE_DATABASE instead of erroring — so a stray or wrong database name from an upstream caller doesn't cause a failed lookup.

License

MIT