Streamlit in Snowflake Skill Skill

Streamlit in Snowflake Skill

Build and deploy Streamlit apps natively within Snowflake, including Marketplace publishing as Native Apps.

Quick Start

1. Initialize Project

Copy the templates to your project:

# Create project directory
mkdir my-streamlit-app && cd my-streamlit-app

# Copy templates (Claude will provide these)

2. Configure snowflake.yml

Update placeholders in snowflake.yml:

definition_version: 2
entities:
  my_app:
    type: streamlit
    identifier: my_streamlit_app        # ← Your app name
    stage: my_app_stage                 # ← Your stage name
    query_warehouse: my_warehouse       # ← Your warehouse
    main_file: streamlit_app.py
    pages_dir: pages/
    artifacts:
      - common/
      - environment.yml

3. Deploy

# Deploy to Snowflake
snow streamlit deploy --replace

# Open in browser
snow streamlit deploy --replace --open

When to Use This Skill

Use when:

Building data apps that run natively in Snowflake
Need Snowpark integration for data access
Publishing apps to Snowflake Marketplace
Setting up CI/CD for Streamlit in Snowflake

Don't use when:

Hosting Streamlit externally (use Streamlit Community Cloud)
Building general Snowpark pipelines (use a Snowpark-specific skill)
Need custom Streamlit components (not supported in SiS)

Runtime Environments

Snowflake offers two runtime options for Streamlit apps:

Warehouse Runtime (Default)

Creates a personal instance for each viewer
Uses environment.yml with Snowflake Anaconda Channel
Python 3.9, 3.10, or 3.11
Streamlit 1.22.0 - 1.35.0
Best for: Sporadic usage, isolated sessions

Container Runtime (Preview)

Creates a shared instance for all viewers
Uses requirements.txt or pyproject.toml with PyPI packages
Python 3.11 only
Streamlit 1.49+
Significantly lower cost (~$2.88/day vs ~$48/day for equivalent compute)
Best for: Frequent usage, cost optimization

Container Runtime Configuration:

CREATE STREAMLIT my_app
  FROM '@my_stage/app_folder'
  MAIN_FILE = 'streamlit_app.py'
  RUNTIME_NAME = 'SYSTEM$ST_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_PY3_11'
  COMPUTE_POOL = my_compute_pool
  QUERY_WAREHOUSE = my_warehouse;

Key difference: Container runtime allows external PyPI packages - not limited to Snowflake Anaconda Channel.

See: Runtime Environments

Security Model

Streamlit apps run under owner's rights (like stored procedures):

Apps execute with the owner's privileges, not the viewer's
Apps use the warehouse provisioned by the owner
Viewers can interact with data using all owner role privileges

Security implications:

Exercise caution when granting write privileges to app roles
Use dedicated roles for app creation/viewing
Viewers can access any data the owner role can access

Project Structure

my-streamlit-app/
├── snowflake.yml           # Project definition (required)
├── environment.yml         # Package dependencies (required)
├── streamlit_app.py        # Main entry point
├── pages/                  # Multi-page apps
│   └── data_explorer.py
├── common/                 # Shared utilities
│   └── utils.py
└── .gitignore

Key Patterns

Snowpark Session Connection

import streamlit as st

# Get Snowpark session (native SiS connection)
conn = st.connection("snowflake")
session = conn.session()

# Query data
df = session.sql("SELECT * FROM my_table LIMIT 100").to_pandas()
st.dataframe(df)

Caching Expensive Queries

@st.cache_data(ttl=600)  # Cache for 10 minutes
def load_data(query: str):
    conn = st.connection("snowflake")
    return conn.session().sql(query).to_pandas()

# Use cached function
df = load_data("SELECT * FROM large_table")

Environment Configuration

environment.yml (required format):

name: sf_env
channels:
  - snowflake          # REQUIRED - only supported channel
dependencies:
  - streamlit=1.35.0   # Explicit version (default is old 1.22.0)
  - pandas
  - plotly
  - altair=4.0         # Version 4.0 supported in SiS
  - snowflake-snowpark-python

Error Prevention

| Error | Cause | Prevention | |-------|-------|------------| | PackageNotFoundError | Using conda-forge or external channel | Use channels: - snowflake (or Container Runtime for PyPI) | | Missing Streamlit features | Default version 1.22.0 | Explicitly set streamlit=1.35.0 (or use Container Runtime for 1.49+) | | ROOT_LOCATION deprecated | Old CLI syntax | Use Snowflake CLI 3.14.0+ with FROM source_location | | Auth failures (2026+) | Password-only authentication | Use key-pair or OAuth (see references/authentication.md) | | File upload fails | File >200MB | Keep uploads under 200MB limit | | DataFrame display fails | Data >32MB | Paginate or limit data before display | | page_title not supported | SiS limitation | Don't use page_title, page_icon, or menu_items in st.set_page_config() | | Custom component error | SiS limitation | Only components without external service calls work | | _snowflake module not found | Container Runtime | Use from snowflake.snowpark.context import get_active_session instead |

Deployment Commands

Basic Deployment

# Deploy and replace existing
snow streamlit deploy --replace

# Deploy and open in browser
snow streamlit deploy --replace --open

# Deploy specific entity (if multiple in snowflake.yml)
snow streamlit deploy my_app --replace

CI/CD Deployment

See references/ci-cd.md for GitHub Actions workflow template.

Marketplace Publishing (Native App)

To publish your Streamlit app to Snowflake Marketplace:

Convert to Native App - Use templates-native-app/ templates
Create Provider Profile - Required for Marketplace listings
Submit for Approval - Snowflake reviews before publishing

See templates-native-app/README.md for complete workflow.

Native App Structure

my-native-app/
├── manifest.yml            # Native App manifest
├── setup.sql               # Installation script
├── streamlit/
│   ├── environment.yml
│   ├── streamlit_app.py
│   └── pages/
└── README.md

Package Availability

Only packages from the Snowflake Anaconda Channel are available:

-- Query available packages
SELECT * FROM information_schema.packages
WHERE language = 'python'
ORDER BY package_name;

-- Search for specific package
SELECT * FROM information_schema.packages
WHERE language = 'python'
AND package_name ILIKE '%plotly%';

Common available packages:

pandas, numpy, scipy
plotly, altair (4.0), matplotlib
scikit-learn, xgboost
snowflake-snowpark-python
streamlit (1.22.0 default, 1.35.0 with explicit version)

Not available:

Packages from conda-forge
Custom/private packages
Packages requiring native compilation

See: Snowpark Python Packages Explorer

Known Limitations

Data & Size Limits

32 MB message size between backend/frontend (affects large st.dataframe)
200 MB file upload limit via st.file_uploader
No .so files - Native compiled libraries unsupported
No external stages - Internal stages only (client-side encryption)

UI Restrictions

st.set_page_config - page_title, page_icon, menu_items not supported
st.bokeh_chart - Not supported
Custom Streamlit components - Only components without external service calls
Content Security Policy - Blocks external scripts, styles, fonts, iframes
eval() blocked - CSP prevents unsafe JavaScript execution

Caching (Warehouse Runtime)

Session-scoped only - st.cache_data and st.cache_resource don't persist across users
Container runtime has full caching support across viewers

Package Restrictions (Warehouse Runtime)

Snowflake Anaconda Channel only - No conda-forge, no pip
Container runtime allows PyPI packages

Network & Access

No Azure Private Link / GCP Private Service Connect
No replication of Streamlit objects

Authentication (Important - 2026 Deadline)

Password-only authentication is being deprecated:

| Milestone | Date | Requirement | |-----------|------|-------------| | Milestone 1 | Sept 2025 - Jan 2026 | MFA required for Snowsight users | | Milestone 2 | May - July 2026 | All new users must use MFA | | Milestone 3 | Aug - Oct 2026 | All users must use MFA or key-pair/OAuth |

Recommended authentication methods:

Key-pair authentication (for service accounts)
OAuth client credentials (for M2M)
Workload Identity Federation (for cloud-native apps)

See references/authentication.md for implementation patterns.

Resources

Official Documentation

Examples

Tools

Snowpark Python Packages Explorer
Snowflake MCP Server (for Claude integration)

Agent Skills: Streamlit in Snowflake Skill

Skill Files