snowflake-dcm

Snowflake DCM (Database Change Management)

DCM lets you manage Snowflake infrastructure as code — databases, schemas, tables, roles, and grants defined declaratively in YAML manifests and deployed through the Snowflake CLI or SQL.

When to use

• User asks about infrastructure-as-code for Snowflake
• User mentions DCM projects, manifest.yml, or DEFINE blocks
• User wants to deploy, inspect, or manage database objects as code
• User asks about the three-tier role pattern

Discovery

List deployed DCM/dbt projects:

SHOW DBT PROJECTS IN ACCOUNT;

Describe a project:

DESCRIBE DBT PROJECT my_db.my_schema.my_project;

Concepts

Manifest structure

DCM projects use manifest.yml with DEFINE blocks:

# manifest.yml
- DEFINE DATABASE analytics_db:
    comment: "Analytics database managed by DCM"

- DEFINE SCHEMA analytics_db.reporting:
    comment: "Reporting schema"

- DEFINE TABLE analytics_db.reporting.daily_metrics:
    columns:
      - name: METRIC_DATE
        type: DATE
        not_null: true
      - name: METRIC_NAME
        type: VARCHAR(256)
      - name: METRIC_VALUE
        type: NUMBER(18,4)
    comment: "Daily business metrics"

Three-tier role pattern

DCM automatically creates three roles per project:

• <project>_ADMIN — full DDL on project objects
• <project>_READWRITE — DML (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) on project tables
• <project>_READONLY — SELECT on project tables and views

CLI commands

# Deploy a DCM project
snow dcm deploy --manifest manifest.yml

# Execute a deployed project
snow dcm execute my_db.my_schema.my_project

# List deployed projects
snow dcm list

SQL commands

-- Execute a deployed project
EXECUTE DBT PROJECT my_db.my_schema.my_project;

-- Alter a project
ALTER DBT PROJECT my_db.my_schema.my_project SET COMMENT = 'Updated';

-- Drop a project
DROP DBT PROJECT my_db.my_schema.my_project;

Drift detection

After deployment, compare the manifest against live state:

1. DESCRIBE DBT PROJECT <name> — see what was deployed
2. SHOW TABLES/SCHEMAS/DATABASES — see current state
3. Re-deploy to reconcile drift