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Snowflake Cortex

Snowflake Cortex is Snowflake's AI and ML platform that provides access to various LLM models through an OpenAI-compatible REST API. Cortex offers industry-leading LLMs including Claude, GPT, Mistral, and Llama models without requiring a dedicated warehouse.

Setup​

  1. Obtain your Snowflake account identifier (format: orgname-accountname)
  2. Generate a bearer token (JWT, OAuth, or programmatic access token)
  3. Ensure you have the SNOWFLAKE.CORTEX_USER database role

Provider Format​

The Snowflake Cortex provider uses this format:

  • snowflake:<model_name> - Connects to Snowflake Cortex using the specified model name

Configuration​

Basic Configuration​

promptfooconfig.yaml
# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://promptfoo.dev/config-schema.json
providers:
  - id: snowflake:mistral-large2
    config:
      accountIdentifier: 'myorg-myaccount'
      apiKey: 'your-bearer-token'

With Environment Variables​

Set your Snowflake credentials as environment variables:

export SNOWFLAKE_ACCOUNT_IDENTIFIER="myorg-myaccount"
export SNOWFLAKE_API_KEY="your-bearer-token"

Then use the provider without specifying credentials:

providers:
  - id: snowflake:mistral-large2

With Additional Parameters​

Snowflake Cortex supports OpenAI-compatible parameters:

providers:
  - id: snowflake:mistral-large2
    config:
      accountIdentifier: 'myorg-myaccount'
      apiKey: 'your-bearer-token'
      temperature: 0.7
      max_tokens: 1024
      top_p: 0.9

Custom Base URL​

Override the default base URL if needed:

providers:
  - id: snowflake:claude-3-5-sonnet
    config:
      apiBaseUrl: 'https://custom.snowflakecomputing.com'
      apiKey: 'your-bearer-token'

Features​

Snowflake Cortex supports:

  • Tool Calling - Function calling and tool use
  • Structured Output - JSON schema validation
  • Streaming - Real-time token streaming (via API)
  • Image Input - Vision capabilities for select models
  • Content Filtering - Built-in guardrails
  • Cross-Region Inference - Models available across Snowflake regions

Authentication​

Authentication is handled via Bearer tokens in the Authorization header. Snowflake Cortex supports multiple token types:

  • JWT (JSON Web Token) - Standard Snowflake authentication
  • OAuth tokens - OAuth 2.0 authentication flow
  • Programmatic access tokens - Service account tokens

Example Configuration​

promptfooconfig.yaml
# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://promptfoo.dev/config-schema.json
description: 'Compare Snowflake Cortex models'

prompts:
  - 'Explain {{topic}} in simple terms'

providers:
  - id: snowflake:claude-3-5-sonnet
    config:
      temperature: 0.7
      max_tokens: 1024
  - id: snowflake:mistral-large2
    config:
      temperature: 0.7
      max_tokens: 1024
  - id: snowflake:llama-3.1-70b
    config:
      temperature: 0.7
      max_tokens: 1024

tests:
  - vars:
      topic: quantum computing
    assert:
      - type: contains
        value: quantum

See Also​