Setting Up GitHub Snowflake Integration: 2 Easy Methods

Companies face challenges in securely and centrally storing their growing data, which is where a cloud-based data warehouse becomes essential.

A cloud-based data warehouse, like Snowflake, offers on-demand computing, increased capacity, and limitless storage, making it ideal for integrating data from various sources.

Snowflake’s integration with GitHub allows developers to extract, transform, and store project data in a centralized location for easy access and use.

Introduction to GitHub

GitHub is a Cloud-based Service that helps developers to collaborate and work on their projects. It also helps in storing and managing your code. GitHub also allows you to track the changes in your code and at the same time control these changes. It works on 2 major principles:

• Version Control
• Git

VERSION CONTROL

Version Control, in simple terms, keeps track of all your changes made to your project and also keeps a record of all these changes.

With Version Control, you can access, compare and update different versions of your project. It also allows you to roll back to a previous version in case of any errors or differences. It is very useful while working in a team.

GIT

Git is one of the most popular Version Control systems. It helps you manage the project files. Suppose you are working on a project (developing a website). Naturally, your project will have all types of files like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. Now, Git helps you manage all these files by:

• Tracking History
• Collaboration
• Feature Branch

Key Features of GitHub

Listed below are some of the key features of GitHub:

• Project Management: With Version Control in GitHub that keeps track of all the changes made in your project, it becomes easy to manage your project and collaborate with other developers.
• Effective Team Management: With GitHub, all the team members can stay updated with all that is happening on the project. This helps in staying organized and well-coordinated.
• Improve Code Writing: With the GIt commands, you can review, improve and propose new codes for your project. It also ensures that all your codes are safely loaded into GitHub’s Cloud Storage.

Read more about Github here. Navigate to this article to learn more about GitHub integrations, like GitHub Webhook integration.

Introduction to Snowflake

Snowflake is a Cloud-based Data Warehousing Solution and is one of a kind as it works on Hybrid Architecture. The Hybrid Architecture has both Shared-Disk and Shared-Nothing elements which work simultaneously to process all your queries.

Because of its architecture, Snowflake is one the fastest Data Warehousing Solutions for any business model. Its performance speed is phenomenal, and it takes only seconds to run your SQL queries.

Key Features of Snowflake

Listed below are some of the key features of Snowflake:

• Data Backup and Recovery: Snowflake supports Time Travel which allows you to query, clone, and restore data for up to 90 days. This is highly beneficial during the time of data loss.
• Scalability: Snowflake sets apart computing and storage units that enable both Horizontal and Vertical Scaling. It also allows you to choose between Maximized and Auto-Scale Modes.
• Security: Snowflake controls site access through network policies, private communication between Snowflake and your VPCs, and your VNets through AWS Privat Link and Azure Private Link respectively.

Methods to Set Up GitHub Snowflake Integration

Since you already have a basic understanding of Github and Snowflake, let’s walk through the methods to set up GitHub Snowflake Integration. Also, read this article to find more information on Snowflake data streaming.

Method 1: Setting Up GitHub Snowflake Integration using Hevo

Hevo Data is a no-code data pipeline, it simplifies the ETL process by loading data from 150+ sources, including GitHub, in just three steps: selecting the data source, providing credentials, and choosing the destination.

Step 1: Select the Source 

Hevo can connect to your GitHub account and transfer data to your Destination using Webhooks. Check out Hevo’s official documentation for more details. You can also learn more about how Webhooks work in GitHub here. 

Step 2: Select Snowflake as Destination

Here are the steps to setup Snowflake as the destination. 

• Login and Configure your Snowflake Account. You will need to use our custom scripts, which you can find here. 
• Obtain your Snowflake Account URL. 
• Next, configure Snowflake as the destination.

For more information, check out the official documentations. 

• How to Setup Github as Source.
• How to Setup Snowflake as Destination.

Check out what the Analytics Engineer of Ebury, a Global FinTech company has to say about using Hevo for all their data integration needs:

With Hevo, our data is more reliable as it was compared to Fivetran at a way better Hevo Pricing. Hevo allows us to build complex pipelines with ease and after factoring in the excellent customer service and reverse ETL functionality, it is undoubtedly the best solution available in the market. 

– Juan Ramos, Analytics Engineer, Ebury

Method 2: Setting Up Manual GitHub Snowflake Integration

• Step 1: Export Files from GitHub in CSV Format
• Step 2: Import the Files into Snowflake Data Warehouse

Step 1: Export Files from GitHub in CSV Format

Follow the steps below to export the files from GitHub in CSV format:

• Log in to your GitHub account and go to the project repository.
• Go to the file you want to export. You can also view the content of the file within the GitHub User Interface (UI). Click on the file to view its content.
• Now, right-click the “Raw” button. You will find this button at the top right corner of your screen.
• Once done, click on “Save as”. Click on the location where you want to save this file after giving it a name of your choice.

Step 2: Import the Files into Snowflake Data Warehouse

Now, that you have exported all the files, it’s time to import these files into Snowflake Data Warehouse. Here, you will be using the PUT SQL command to load your CSV data file from your local system to Snowflake Internal Stage and then you will be using the COPY INTO SQL command to load the file from Snowflake Internal Stage to Snowflake Database Table.

Follow the steps below to import the files into Snowflake Data Warehouse and set up GitHub Snowflake Integration:

• Upload the CSV file from the local system to Snowflake Internal Stage using the PUT SQL command. Use the following SQL query for the same.
  NOTE: By default, the PUT command compresses your file using GZIP.

PUT file:///apps/sparkbyexamples/emp.csv @%EMP;

• Now, load the CSV file from Snowflake Internal Stage to Snowflake Table using the COPY INTO SQL command. For this step, first, you will have to create a Snowflake Table. Use the following SQL query to create a new Snowflake Table.
  NOTE: Change the column names as per your requirement.

CREATE TABLE EMP 
      (FNAME VARCHAR, LNAME VARCHAR,
       SALARY VARCHAR, DEPARTMENT varchar,
       GENDER varchar);

• Now use the COPY INTO SQL command to load the file that you compressed in the last step into Snowflake Table that you created just now. Use the following for the same:

COPY INTO EMP from '@%EMP/emp.csv.gz';

Limitations of Setting Up Manual GitHub Snowflake Integration

• Setting up Manual GitHub Snowflake Integration requires technical expertise and experience in working with both GitHub and Snowflake. It would be very difficult for anyone with no or little technical experience to successfully integrate these 2 platforms.
• As you will need to export and import data periodically, there is a high possibility of Data Redundancy.
• Manual Integration is only effective when you have files in CSV format. If that is not the case, then it would be impossible to set up GitHub Snowflake Integration.

Advantages of Integrating GitHub Snowflake

• GitHub Snowflake Integration allows you to store all the historical data in a centralized location. This makes it easier for you to fetch this information as and when required. Moreover, it also allows you to run this data through Business Intelligence tools and extract meaningful insights out of it.
• As all your data will be stored in a centralized location, this will allow everyone in your team to use that data without even downloading it. The data could be huge and the elimination of the step where you had to download it for future use, makes it so much easier for you to use the data in your projects.

Conclusion

The article introduced you with a comprehensive guide that you can use while setting up GitHub Snowflake Integration. The article included 2 different approaches to set up GitHub Snowflake Integration.

With the complexity involves in Manual Integration, businesses are leaning more towards Automated Integration. This is not only hassle-free but also easy to operate and does not require any technical proficiency.