Hello, data enthusiasts! Today I’ll be introducing you to Snowflake Copilot, an exciting new addition to Snowflake’s suite. I will be walking you through what you can do with Copilot, and how you can use it to enhance your developer experience by providing smart assistance directly within your Snowflake environment.
1) Create or Open a Worksheet: Start by creating a new worksheet or opening an existing one.
2) Click “Ask Copilot”: Find this option at the bottom-right of the worksheet.
3) Select Database and Schema: Choose the appropriate database and schema related to your question.
4) Type Your Question and run your query: Enter your question in the message box.
Faster Startup (Indexing): It takes several hours for Copilot to index and understand the data. You may encounter the message, “We are in the process of indexing the tables and views in the selected database and schema. Please try again later.” When you create your Snowflake account (or if you already have one), connect Copilot to your data right away!
Context Tradeoff: To reference tables and schemas in Snowflake using Copilot, you must use the ”@” sign. While this can limit context, it often results in more specific answers.
Limited Availability: As of July 2024, Copilot is only available in certain regions - and with differing access to models and functions depending on the cloud provider your Snowflake account is hosted as well as the region in which your data is stored. See where Snowflake Copilot is available here.
Schema/Database Selection Requirement: You cannot ask open questions about Snowflake without selecting a schema or database first.
Snowflake Copilot is currently free to use, but details on pricing are under development (so try it out soon!)
Overall, I’m impressed with Copilot as a new addition to the Snowflake ecosystem. It’s made my workflow smoother, from optimizing SQL queries to visualising complex schemas, all while providing real-time insights that I didn’t even know I needed. It feels like having an extra set of hands, making complex tasks easier and faster. Suppose I could add one capability: it would be to be able to ask the Copilot about general Snowflake infrastructure. In that case, I think this would make it easier for new users to navigate the landscape, increase their capabilities using the tool, and not just write better queries. I’m looking forward to seeing how Snowflake Copilot develops!
