mkpipe-loader-snowflake 0.8.0

Snowflake loader for mkpipe.

mkpipe-loader-snowflake

Snowflake loader plugin for MkPipe. Writes Spark DataFrames into Snowflake tables using the native Snowflake Spark connector (spark-snowflake), which stages data via internal cloud storage (S3/Azure/GCS) — significantly faster than JDBC for large datasets.

Documentation

For more detailed documentation, please visit the GitHub repository.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License - see the LICENSE file for details.

---

Connection Configuration

connections:
  snowflake_target:
    variant: snowflake
    host: myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com
    port: 443
    database: MY_DATABASE
    schema: MY_SCHEMA
    user: myuser
    password: mypassword
    warehouse: MY_WAREHOUSE

With RSA key pair authentication:

connections:
  snowflake_target:
    variant: snowflake
    host: myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com
    port: 443
    database: MY_DATABASE
    schema: MY_SCHEMA
    user: myuser
    warehouse: MY_WAREHOUSE
    private_key_file: /path/to/rsa_key.p8
    private_key_file_pwd: mypassphrase

---

Table Configuration

pipelines:
  - name: pg_to_snowflake
    source: pg_source
    destination: snowflake_target
    tables:
      - name: public.events
        target_name: STG_EVENTS
        replication_method: full
        batchsize: 50000

---

Write Strategy

Control how data is written to Snowflake:

      - name: public.events
        target_name: STG_EVENTS
        write_strategy: upsert       # append | replace | upsert | merge
        write_key: [id]              # required for upsert/merge

Strategy	Snowflake Behavior
append	Insert via Spark connector (default for incremental)
replace	Overwrite table via Spark connector (default for full). Use if_exists: append to preserve existing table
upsert	Write to temp table, then MERGE INTO target USING temp ON ... WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE ... WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT ...
merge	Same as upsert for Snowflake

Note: upsert/merge requires write_key. The loader creates a temp table, writes data there, executes a MERGE statement, then drops the temp table.

---

Write Parallelism & Throughput

Snowflake loader uses the native Spark connector. Two parameters control write performance:

      - name: public.events
        target_name: STG_EVENTS
        replication_method: full
        batchsize: 50000        # rows per batch insert (default: 10000)
        write_partitions: 4     # coalesce DataFrame to N partitions before writing

How they work

• batchsize: number of rows buffered before sending to Snowflake. Larger batches reduce round-trips and staging overhead.
• write_partitions: calls coalesce(N) on the DataFrame before writing, controlling the number of concurrent write operations to Snowflake.

Performance Notes

• Snowflake Warehouse size is the primary write performance lever. A larger warehouse processes inserts faster regardless of partition count.
• The Spark connector stages data internally before committing. Large batchsize (50,000+) reduces staging overhead.
• For very large loads, consider using Snowflake's native COPY INTO via an external stage (S3/GCS) instead — that is significantly faster but requires additional infrastructure.
• write_partitions: 4–8 is a good default to balance throughput and connection count.

---

All Table Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
name	string	required	Source table name
target_name	string	required	Snowflake destination table name
replication_method	full / incremental	full	Replication strategy
batchsize	int	10000	Rows per batch insert
write_partitions	int	—	Coalesce DataFrame to N partitions before writing
write_strategy	string	—	append, replace, upsert, merge
write_key	list	—	Key columns for upsert/merge (required)
if_exists	string	—	replace (drop+create) or append (preserve table). Inherits from settings
dedup_columns	list	—	Columns used for mkpipe_id hash deduplication
tags	list	[]	Tags for selective pipeline execution
pass_on_error	bool	false	Skip table on error instead of failing