Set up Cargo on Snowflake

Configure Snowflake as your system of record in Cargo

This guide walks you through setting up Snowflake as your system of record in Cargo. This setup ensures Cargo has the necessary permissions in Snowflake to read and write data efficiently.

Cargo ships with a default managed BigQuery warehouse, so you can start without connecting anything. Follow this guide only if you want to bring your own Snowflake instance. See System of record for what a SOR is and how to operate it from the CLI once connected.

Permissions

What Cargo can do

• Read data from schemas and tables, even if they are spread across multiple databases
• Write data into new schemas and tables

What Cargo will never do

• Overwrite existing schemas and tables (Cargo always creates its own schemas and tables when needed)

Before you begin

To start, you need an existing Snowflake account with appropriate admin access to create databases, warehouses, roles, and users.

Step 1: Create a dedicated database

Create a dedicated database for Cargo where all data managed by Cargo will be stored.

Create a database called “cargo_db”

CREATE DATABASE cargo_db;

Step 2: Create a user for Cargo

Grant the necessary permissions for Cargo to run commands as an authenticated user on the database you just created.

Create a role for Cargo

CREATE ROLE cargo_role;

Grant the cargo database you created above to cargo role

GRANT ALL ON DATABASE cargo_db TO ROLE cargo_role;

Create a warehouse for Cargo

CREATE WAREHOUSE cargo_wh
  WITH WAREHOUSE_SIZE = 'XSMALL'
  WAREHOUSE_TYPE = 'STANDARD'
  AUTO_SUSPEND = 60
  AUTO_RESUME = TRUE;

Grant warehouse to cargo role

GRANT USAGE ON WAREHOUSE cargo_wh TO ROLE cargo_role;

Create a user for Cargo

Replace <YOUR_SECURE_PASSWORD> with a strong, unique password. Store it securely — you’ll need it in Step 6.

CREATE USER cargo_user
  PASSWORD = '<YOUR_SECURE_PASSWORD>'
  DEFAULT_ROLE = cargo_role
  DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE = cargo_wh
  MUST_CHANGE_PASSWORD = FALSE;

Grant role to user

GRANT ROLE cargo_role TO USER cargo_user;

Grant access to schema tables

If Cargo needs to access data outside the cargo_db database, grant the appropriate permissions:

GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA cargo_db.public TO ROLE cargo_role;

To grant access to other databases, run similar GRANT statements for each database/schema Cargo needs to read from.

Step 3: Verify granted privileges

Make sure the Cargo role has access to the following permissions on cargo_db: OWNERSHIP, MODIFY, MONITOR, USAGE, CREATE SCHEMA.

Show granted privileges on cargo_db

SHOW GRANTS ON DATABASE cargo_db;

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Step 4: Set up RSA key authentication

You must provide an RSA private key for authentication.

Generate a private key

openssl genrsa 2048 | openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -out rsa_key.p8 -nocrypt

Generate a public key

openssl rsa -in rsa_key.p8 -pubout -out rsa_key.pub

Keep your private key (rsa_key.p8) secure and never share it. You’ll need to provide it when configuring Cargo.

Assign the public key to your Snowflake user

Copy the contents of rsa_key.pub (excluding the header and footer lines) and run:

ALTER USER cargo_user SET RSA_PUBLIC_KEY = 'MIIBIjANBgkqh...your_public_key_here...';

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Step 5: Configure allowed IP addresses

If you’re using Snowflake’s network policy to restrict access, add these Cargo IP addresses to your allowlist:

IP Address
3.251.34.134
54.220.135.99
79.125.105.52

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Step 6: Set up system of record

Now that we have all the required elements, navigate to workspace settings and select System of record.

Fill in the settings form with the data we gathered in the previous steps:

Field	Value
Account name	Your Snowflake account identifier
Database	cargo_db (created in Step 1)
Warehouse	cargo_wh (created in Step 2)
Role	cargo_role (created in Step 2)
User	cargo_user (created in Step 2)
Password	The password you set in Step 2
RSA Private Key	Contents of rsa_key.p8
Scope	Choose Database or Schema scope

Database scope allows Cargo to create multiple schemas within cargo_db. Schema scope restricts Cargo to a single schema.

Click Setup to complete the configuration.

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Next steps

System of record

Query, migrate, and monitor your SOR from the CLI.

Query your data

Build data models and run SQL against your warehouse.

Snowflake actions

Insert, update, upsert, and delete records in workflows.

Models

Create data models on top of your Snowflake tables.