migrate-sas7bdat-to-snowflake

Migrate .sas7bdat Files from Stage to Snowflake

© Snowflake Inc. This skill and its contents are the proprietary intellectual property of Snowflake Inc.

Load one or many .sas7bdat files that already sit on a Snowflake stage into tables. All parsing and loading runs inside Snowflake (a Python stored procedure using pandas.read_sas + SnowflakeFile). Nothing is parsed on the client.

Mental model

• The stage may contain subfolders. Each subfolder = one target table (all .sas7bdat files directly inside it are appended into that table). Files at the stage root (no subfolder) = one table each.
• A single engine stored procedure does all the work. A one-time load just CALLs it once. An ongoing load wraps that same proc in a scheduled Task and uses a control table to load only new/changed files.
• The proc refreshes the stage's directory table itself at the start of every run, so both one-time and scheduled loads always see newly-arrived files. (First-time setup still enables the directory table; see Step 0.)

Prerequisites

• The stage already exists and points at the .sas7bdat files. (This skill verifies it; it does not create the stage.)
• Role can CREATE TABLE, CREATE PROCEDURE, and (ongoing only) CREATE TASK + EXECUTE TASK in the target schema, plus USAGE + READ on the stage.
• A warehouse is available. For large files (>~500 MB) prefer a Snowpark-optimized warehouse — see references/architecture.md.

Setup (always do first)

Load references/architecture.md — it holds the exact server-side read pattern, SAS date/encoding handling, memory/chunking, and warehouse guidance you will need while deploying.

Step 0: Confirm stage and directory table

1. Ask the user for the stage name and target database/schema/warehouse.

2. Verify the stage and check whether a directory table is enabled (the engine enumerates files with DIRECTORY(@stage), which requires one):

   DESCRIBE STAGE <stage>;
   

   Look at the directory property. If files sit on an external stage, also confirm a storage integration is in use.