dcmassist 0.2.18

Export Snowflake object definitions for use in a DCM project

dcmassist

Turn an existing Snowflake database into a DCM project in seconds.

You've decided to manage your Snowflake schema with Declarative Change Management. Now you need a DEFINE TABLE … block for every table, view, schema, stage, sequence, file format, and tag you already have. Hand-writing thousands of these is the wrong way to start.

Point dcmassist at your database and it produces a complete, ready-to-commit DCM project — manifest.yml, Makefile, definitions, optional macros, the lot.

uvx dcmassist export --database MYDB --out-folder ./my-dcm-project

That's it. Commit, deploy, done.

Why dcmassist

• Zero-to-DCM in one command. No bespoke scripts, no copy-pasting from GET_DDL, no fixing up identifier quoting by hand.
• Multi-environment from day one. Database names are templated to {{ database }} automatically, so the same project deploys to dev, staging, and prod.
• Safe with secrets. Stage definitions are synthesized without credentials — credentials live on storage integrations, not in git. You won't accidentally commit AWS keys.
• Built for real Snowflake accounts. Paginates SHOW past the 10K-row cap. Quotes identifiers properly so leading-digit and lowercase names survive. Skips objects your role can't see instead of failing the run.
• Predictable output. Per-type files, deterministic ordering, automatic chunking when a type grows beyond a threshold. Diffs stay readable as your project evolves.
• Optional Jinja macros. With --use-macros, every definition is a one-line macro invocation, so a column rename touches one file instead of hundreds.
• Observable runs. Live status panel while it works; a per-run log file you can tail when something looks wrong.

What you get

my-dcm-project/
├── manifest.yml                # targets, configurations, templating defaults
├── Makefile                    # deploy, plan, sync, validate
├── dcmassist.log               # per-run log of options + per-object results
└── sources/
    ├── definitions/
    │   ├── schema.sql          # one file per type
    │   ├── table.sql           # auto-chunked into table2.sql, table3.sql … past the threshold
    │   ├── view.sql
    │   ├── sequence.sql
    │   ├── stage.sql           # synthesized — no credentials
    │   ├── file_format.sql
    │   └── tag.sql
    └── macros/                 # only with --use-macros
        └── <type>.sql

Run

Requires Python ≥ 3.10, uv, and a configured snow CLI connection.

dcmassist is a one-shot tool — you run it when you need a DCM project and rarely after that. The simplest way is uvx, which fetches and runs without a permanent install:

uvx dcmassist export --database MYDB

Pin a version for reproducibility:

uvx dcmassist@0.1.15 export --database MYDB

If you'd rather keep it installed:

uv tool install dcmassist
# or
pipx install dcmassist

Quick examples

The examples below use uvx; substitute dcmassist if you've installed it.

Just tables and views from one schema, with macros, into a custom folder:

uvx dcmassist export \
    --database MYDB \
    --schema PUBLIC \
    --include Table --include View \
    --use-macros \
    --out-folder ./project

Multi-environment manifest with templated configurations:

uvx dcmassist export \
    --database MYDB \
    --target dev --target prod \
    --configuration STAGING \
    --templating-default warehouse=COMPUTE_WH

Run uvx dcmassist export --help for every option.

Type support

Implemented: Schema, Table, View, Sequence, Stage, File format, Tag.

Recognized but not yet exported: Dynamic table, Task, Alert, SQL function, Data metric function, SQL procedure, Role, Database role, Grant, Authentication policy. Including these in --include is accepted (they pass validation) but they produce no output yet — contributions welcome.

Database is intentionally never exported: DCM rejects DEFINE DATABASE for the project's own parent database.

Configuration

Environment variable	Effect
DCMASSIST_EXPORT_OBJECTS_PER_FILE	Max objects per chunked SQL file (default: 100). Lower it if your DDL files grow uncomfortably large.
DCMASSIST_NO_STATUS=1	Disable the live status panel (also auto-disabled on non-TTY and NO_COLOR=1).

Exit code	Meaning
0	Success
4	Ran to completion but exported nothing — every object failed (typically permission errors)
5	Setup error — bad env var, or non-empty output folder without --force

Project status

Pre-1.0. The output layout, CLI flags, and log format are stable enough to use; expect breaking changes between minor versions until 1.0. Issues and pull requests welcome at github.com/jamiekt/dcmassist.

License

MIT.