SnowcatCloud

This guide walks through the steps to ingest data from SnowcatCloud into Materialize using the Webhook source.

💡 Tip: For help getting started with your own data, you can schedule a free guided trial.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have:

A SnowcatCloud account
A Snowplow or Analytics.js compatible pipeline set up and running.

Step 1. (Optional) Create a cluster

NOTE: If you are prototyping and already have a cluster to host your webhook source (e.g. quickstart), you can skip this step. For production scenarios, we recommend separating your workloads into multiple clusters for resource isolation.

To create a cluster in Materialize, use the CREATE CLUSTER command:

CREATE CLUSTER webhooks_cluster (SIZE = '25cc');

SET CLUSTER = webhooks_cluster;

Step 2. Create a secret

To validate requests between SnowcatCloud and Materialize, you must create a secret:

CREATE SECRET snowcat_webhook_secret AS '<secret_value>';

Change the <secret_value> to a unique value that only you know and store it in a secure location.

Step 3. Set up a webhook source

Using the secret from the previous step, create a webhook source in Materialize to ingest data from SnowcatCloud. By default, the source will be created in the active cluster; to use a different cluster, use the IN CLUSTER clause.

CREATE SOURCE snowcat_source IN CLUSTER webhooks_cluster
  FROM WEBHOOK
    BODY FORMAT JSON
    CHECK (
      WITH (
        HEADERS,
        BODY AS body,
        SECRET snowcat_webhook_secret AS validation_secret
      )
      -- The constant_time_eq validation function **does not support** fully
      -- qualified secret names. We recommend always aliasing the secret name
      -- for ease of use.
      constant_time_eq(headers->'authorization', validation_secret)
);

After a successful run, the command returns a NOTICE message containing the unique webhook URL that allows you to POST events to the source. Copy and store it. You will need it for the next step.

The URL will have the following format:

https://<HOST>/api/webhook/<database>/<schema>/<src_name>

If you missed the notice, you can find the URLs for all webhook sources in the mz_internal.mz_webhook_sources system table.

Access and authentication

WARNING! Without a CHECK statement, all requests will be accepted. To prevent bad actors from injecting data into your source, it is strongly encouraged that you define a CHECK statement with your webhook sources.

The above webhook source uses basic authentication. This enables a simple and rudimentary way to grant authorization to your webhook source.

Step 4. Create a webhook destination in SnowcatCloud

To configure a Materialize webhook as a destination in SnowcatCloud, follow the steps outlined below:

Select your SnowcatCloud pipe

Identify the pipeline you wish to add Materialize to as a destination.
Select Materialize as a destination
1. Navigate to the destinations section.
2. Click Configure on the Materialize destination.

Connection settings

On the Materialize Settings page:

Webhook URL: Define the endpoint where events will be dispatched by SnowcatCloud. Use the URL from Step 3..
Secret: Use the secret created in Step 2..
Click Save & Test: If the webhook is configured successfully, you will see a success message and the destination will start PROVISIONING; once it is ACTIVE, all your data will be streaming to Materialize’s webhook.

Step 5. Validate incoming data

With the source set up in Materialize and the webhook destination configured in SnowcatCloud, you can now query the incoming data:

In the Materialize console, navigate to the SQL Shell.
Use SQL queries to inspect and analyze the incoming data:
```
SELECT * FROM segment_source LIMIT 10;
```
Note that while the destination is PROVISIONING, you will only see the test event.

Step 6. Transform incoming data

Webhook data is ingested as a JSON blob. We recommend creating a parsing view on top of your webhook source that uses jsonb operators to map the individual fields to columns with the required data types.

To see what columns are available for your pipeline (enrichments), refer to the SnowcatCloud documentation.

CREATE VIEW events AS
SELECT
    body ->> 'app_id' AS app_id,
    body ->> 'platform' AS platform,
    try_parse_monotonic_iso8601_timestamp(body ->> 'etl_tstamp') AS etl_tstamp,
    try_parse_monotonic_iso8601_timestamp(body ->> 'collector_tstamp') AS collector_tstamp,
    try_parse_monotonic_iso8601_timestamp(body ->> 'dvce_created_tstamp') AS dvce_created_tstamp,
    body ->> 'event' AS event,
    body ->> 'event_id' AS event_id,
    body ->> 'txn_id' AS txn_id,
    body ->> 'name_tracker' AS name_tracker,
    body ->> 'v_tracker' AS v_tracker,
    body ->> 'v_collector' AS v_collector,
    body ->> 'v_etl' AS v_etl,
    body ->> 'user_id' AS user_id,
    body ->> 'user_ipaddress' AS user_ipaddress,
    body ->> 'user_fingerprint' AS user_fingerprint,
    body ->> 'domain_userid' AS domain_userid,
    body ->> 'domain_sessionidx' AS domain_sessionidx,
    body ->> 'network_userid' AS network_userid,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_location_1' -> 0 -> 'country' -> 'names' ->> 'en')::text AS geo_country,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_location_1' -> 0 -> 'subdivisions' -> 0 -> 'names' ->> 'en')::text AS geo_region,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_location_1' -> 0 -> 'city' -> 'names' ->> 'en')::text AS geo_city,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_location_1' -> 0 -> 'postal' ->> 'code')::text AS geo_zipcode,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_location_1' -> 0 -> 'location' ->> 'latitude')::numeric AS geo_latitude,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_location_1' -> 0 -> 'location' ->> 'longitude')::numeric AS geo_longitude,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_isp_1' -> 0 -> 'traits' ->> 'organization')::text AS ip_organization,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_isp_1' -> 0 -> 'traits' ->> 'isp')::text AS ip_isp,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_isp_1' -> 0 -> 'traits' ->> 'asn')::text AS ip_asn,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_isp_1' -> 0 -> 'traits' ->> 'connection_type')::text AS ip_connection_type,
    (body -> 'contexts_com_dbip_isp_1' -> 0 -> 'traits' ->> 'user_type')::text AS ip_user_type,
    body ->> 'page_url' AS page_url,
    body ->> 'page_title' AS page_title,
    body ->> 'page_referrer' AS page_referrer,
    body ->> 'page_urlscheme' AS page_urlscheme,
    body ->> 'page_urlhost' AS page_urlhost,
    body ->> 'page_urlport' AS page_urlport,
    body ->> 'page_urlpath' AS page_urlpath,
    body ->> 'page_urlquery' AS page_urlquery,
    body ->> 'page_urlfragment' AS page_urlfragment,
    body ->> 'refr_urlscheme' AS refr_urlscheme,
    body ->> 'refr_urlhost' AS refr_urlhost,
    body ->> 'refr_urlport' AS refr_urlport,
    body ->> 'refr_urlpath' AS refr_urlpath,
    body ->> 'refr_urlquery' AS refr_urlquery,
    body ->> 'refr_urlfragment' AS refr_urlfragment,
    body ->> 'refr_medium' AS refr_medium,
    body ->> 'refr_source' AS refr_source,
    body ->> 'refr_term' AS refr_term,
    body ->> 'mkt_medium' AS mkt_medium,
    body ->> 'mkt_source' AS mkt_source,
    body ->> 'mkt_term' AS mkt_term,
    body ->> 'mkt_content' AS mkt_content,
    body ->> 'mkt_campaign' AS mkt_campaign,
    body ->> 'se_category' AS se_category,
    body ->> 'se_action' AS se_action,
    body ->> 'se_label' AS se_label,
    body ->> 'se_property' AS se_property,
    (body ->> 'se_value')::numeric AS se_value,
    body ->> 'unstruct_event' AS unstruct_event,
    body ->> 'tr_orderid' AS tr_orderid,
    body ->> 'tr_affiliation' AS tr_affiliation,
    (body ->> 'tr_total')::numeric AS tr_total,
    (body ->> 'tr_tax')::numeric AS tr_tax,
    (body ->> 'tr_shipping')::numeric AS tr_shipping,
    body ->> 'tr_city' AS tr_city,
    body ->> 'tr_state' AS tr_state,
    body ->> 'tr_country' AS tr_country,
    body ->> 'ti_orderid' AS ti_orderid,
    body ->> 'ti_sku' AS ti_sku,
    body ->> 'ti_name' AS ti_name,
    body ->> 'ti_category' AS ti_category,
    (body ->> 'ti_price')::numeric AS ti_price,
    body ->> 'ti_quantity' AS ti_quantity,
    body ->> 'pp_xoffset_min' AS pp_xoffset_min,
    body ->> 'pp_xoffset_max' AS pp_xoffset_max,
    body ->> 'pp_yoffset_min' AS pp_yoffset_min,
    body ->> 'pp_yoffset_max' AS pp_yoffset_max,
    body ->> 'useragent' AS useragent,
    (body -> 'contexts_nl_basjes_yauaa_context_1' -> 0 ->> 'agentNameVersion')::text AS br_name,
    (body -> 'contexts_nl_basjes_yauaa_context_1' -> 0 ->> 'agentName')::text AS br_family,
    (body -> 'contexts_nl_basjes_yauaa_context_1' -> 0 ->> 'agentVersion')::text AS br_version,
    (body -> 'contexts_nl_basjes_yauaa_context_1' -> 0 ->> 'layoutEngineClass')::text AS br_type,
    body ->> 'br_lang' AS br_lang,
    body ->> 'br_features_pdf' AS br_features_pdf,
    body ->> 'br_features_flash' AS br_features_flash,
    body ->> 'br_features_java' AS br_features_java,
    body ->> 'br_features_director' AS br_features_director,
    body ->> 'br_features_quicktime' AS br_features_quicktime,
    body ->> 'br_features_realplayer' AS br_features_realplayer,
    body ->> 'br_features_windowsmedia' AS br_features_windowsmedia,
    body ->> 'br_features_gears' AS br_features_gears,
    body ->> 'br_features_silverlight' AS br_features_silverlight,
    body ->> 'br_cookies' AS br_cookies,
    body ->> 'br_colordepth' AS br_colordepth,
    body ->> 'br_viewwidth' AS br_viewwidth,
    body ->> 'br_viewheight' AS br_viewheight,
    (body -> 'contexts_nl_basjes_yauaa_context_1' -> 0 ->> 'operatingSystemName')::text AS os_name,
    (body -> 'contexts_nl_basjes_yauaa_context_1' -> 0 ->> 'operatingSystemClass')::text AS os_family,
    (body -> 'contexts_nl_basjes_yauaa_context_1' -> 0 ->> 'deviceBrand')::text AS os_manufacturer,
    body ->> 'os_timezone' AS os_timezone,
    (body -> 'contexts_nl_basjes_yauaa_context_1' -> 0 ->> 'deviceClass')::text AS dvce_type,
    (body ->> 'dvce_screenwidth')::numeric AS dvce_screenwidth,
    (body ->> 'dvce_screenheight')::numeric AS dvce_screenheight,
    body ->> 'doc_charset' AS doc_charset,
    (body ->> 'doc_width')::numeric AS doc_width,
    (body ->> 'doc_height')::numeric AS doc_height,
    body ->> 'tr_currency' AS tr_currency,
    (body ->> 'tr_total_base')::numeric AS tr_total_base,
    (body ->> 'tr_tax_base')::numeric AS tr_tax_base,
    (body ->> 'tr_shipping_base')::numeric AS tr_shipping_base,
    body ->> 'ti_currency' AS ti_currency,
    (body ->> 'ti_price_base')::numeric AS ti_price_base,
    body ->> 'base_currency' AS base_currency,
    body ->> 'geo_timezone' AS geo_timezone,
    body ->> 'mkt_clickid' AS mkt_clickid,
    body ->> 'mkt_network' AS mkt_network,
    body ->> 'etl_tags' AS etl_tags,
    try_parse_monotonic_iso8601_timestamp(body ->> 'dvce_sent_tstamp') AS dvce_sent_tstamp,
    body ->> 'refr_domain_userid' AS refr_domain_userid,
    try_parse_monotonic_iso8601_timestamp(body ->> 'refr_dvce_tstamp') AS refr_dvce_tstamp,
    body ->> 'domain_sessionid' AS domain_sessionid,
    try_parse_monotonic_iso8601_timestamp(body ->> 'derived_tstamp') AS derived_tstamp,
    body ->> 'event_vendor' AS event_vendor,
    body ->> 'event_name' AS event_name,
    body ->> 'event_format' AS event_format,
    body ->> 'event_version' AS event_version,
    body ->> 'event_fingerprint' AS event_fingerprint
FROM
    snowcat_source;

Timestamp handling

We highly recommend using the try_parse_monotonic_iso8601_timestamp function when casting from text to timestamp, which enables temporal filter pushdown.

Deduplication

With the vast amount of data processed and potential network issues, it’s not uncommon to receive duplicate records. You can use the DISTINCT ON clause to efficiently remove duplicates. For more details, refer to the webhook source reference documentation.

Next steps

With Materialize ingesting your SnowcatCloud data, you can start exploring it, computing real-time results that stay up-to-date as new data arrives, and serving results efficiently. For more details, check out the SnowcatCloud documentation and the webhook source reference documentation.