Accessing your gaiia data in Snowflake

Last updated: November 11, 2026

Overview

In this article, we'll be covering how to access your gaiia data in Snowflake using two secure approaches that support read-only analytics and BI connections.

Choosing how to access data

Pick the option that fits your team's Snowflake posture and timeline.

  1. Use gaiia's fully managed Snowflake reader account (recommended for speed and simplicity).

  2. Connect your own Snowflake account via a direct share to your environment.

Both options provide secure, read-only access to your data and work with tools like Power BI, Tableau, and Looker.

For large data exports or high-volume data needs, Snowflake is recommended over API requests as it's better suited for handling extensive workloads. If you have real-time information requirements, contact gaiia support about potential rate limit adjustments.

Using gaiia's fully managed Snowflake reader account (recommended)

If you choose our fully managed option, there's no setup required on your end. gaiia provisions a dedicated Snowflake reader account for your tenant and maintains the share and objects for you.

Key details

  • Includes 50 Snowflake compute credits, sufficient for most analytics use cases. Credits used beyond that are charged to your account. See About Snowflake.

  • gaiia handles all setup, maintenance, and sharing configurations.

  • You can access the account information, add users and create service users for BI tools in Admin > Snowflake.

How your data is shared

Your gaiia data is shared with you through a Snowflake Direct Share, which means:

  • You get read-only access to gaiia-managed data views.

  • You may still create your own databases and tables inside the reader account (for modelling or staging internal data).

This is the fastest and simplest way to start analyzing your data securely.

Connecting your own Snowflake account

If you prefer to use your existing Snowflake account, gaiia can create a Direct Share to your environment.

Requirements

  1. Your Snowflake account must be in us-east-1 (Northern Virginia).

  2. Your Snowflake account must run on AWS.

Contact gaiia support to request a direct share to your existing account.

If your account doesn't meet these requirements

If your Snowflake account is in another region or hosted on a different cloud provider (e.g., Azure or GCP), a Direct Share isn't possible.

  • Set up your own data pipeline to transfer data between the reader account and your Snowflake (or other warehouse).

  • Or use the managed reader account to begin analysis immediately.

Connecting BI tools

Both access methods work with common BI tools.

With the managed reader account, connect your BI tool through a service user: a Snowflake user made for tools, which signs in with a private key instead of a person's password. Your dashboards keep refreshing when team members change. Use these connection details:

  • Server: the address shown in Reader Account URL in Admin > Snowflake

  • Username: your service user's Username

  • Authentication: key pair

  • Role: PUBLIC

  • Warehouse: DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE

  • Database: SHARED_DATABASE

To create a service user and set up Power BI or Tableau, see Connecting a BI tool with a Snowflake service user.

With a Direct Share to your own account, use your own account's server, users, roles and warehouse.

Requesting access or help

To request a managed reader account, a Direct Share, or help connecting BI tools, please contact gaiia support at support@gaiia.com.