Remote app operations for Snowflake Native Apps now available

Use cases

Imagine that you develop a Snowflake Native App and need to perform maintenance or run support commands in a consumer's environment without direct account access. Providers can now execute operations directly on installed apps using a system function.

• Run remote SQL statements on the consumer application.
• Enable or disable the application with a reason.
• Retry a failed upgrade.

How to use

The SYSTEM$REMOTE_APP_OPERATION function allows providers to trigger actions by passing the operation type, package name, and application hash.

SELECT SYSTEM$REMOTE_APP_OPERATION(
  'run_sql',
  'package_name',
  'application_hash',
  '{"sql": "SELECT * FROM example_schema.example_table"}'
);

What happens in this code:

1. The function takes the operation type, which in this case is 'run_sql'.
2. It specifies the package name and the unique application hash.
3. It passes a JSON string containing the SQL statement to execute in the consumer's environment.
4. It returns a request identifier for tracking purposes.

To disable an application with a reason, use:

SELECT SYSTEM$REMOTE_APP_OPERATION(
  'disable',
  'package_name',
  'application_hash',
  '{"reason": "Application needs maintenance"}'
);

What happens in this code:

1. Sets the operation type to 'disable'.
2. Identifies the application via package and hash.
3. Sends the required reason inside the configuration JSON.

What it returns

Field	Description
request_id	A UUID request identifier in JSON format to track the result in the event table.

Limitations and requirements

• This feature is Generally Available (GA).
• Available only to providers.
• Restricted operations like 'run_sql' require consumer consent configured via CREATE APPLICATION or ALTER APPLICATION.
• Providers can check consent status using the APPLICATION_STATE view.