Timothy Spann

Posted on May 26

All Data and AI Weekly #243-25 May 2026

#agenticai #ai #snowflake #cortexcode

All Data and AI Weekly #243-25 May 2026

( AI, Data, Agentic AI, Cortex Code, NiFi, Iceberg, Polaris, Streamlit, Python, Java, SQL, MCP, LLM, RAG, Cortex AI, AIFN, Search, Unstructured Data )

Tim's Corner: Summit Week Countdown - AI Function Studio, Iceberg Writes GA, and Batch Search

Welcome to issue 243! Snowflake Summit 2026 is ONE WEEK away - I'll be speaking on NiFi and Agents in San Francisco June 2. This week Snowflake shipped a wave of GA releases leading into Summit. Cortex AI Function Studio entered public preview - create, evaluate, and optimize production-ready AI Functions with automated prompt engineering and model selection. Iceberg table writes via external query engines went GA through Horizon Catalog - read AND write to Snowflake-managed Iceberg v2/v3 tables from Spark or any Iceberg REST engine. Batch Cortex Search went GA with the CORTEX_SEARCH_BATCH table function for millions of fuzzy-match queries in a single SQL statement. Storage lifecycle policies for dynamic tables went GA. dbt Projects on Snowflake got enhanced DAG visualization with column-level lineage. CREATE OR ALTER SEMANTIC VIEW entered preview for declarative semantic view management. The dynamic tables documentation got a full 30-page rewrite. dbt Fusion is now available on Snowflake. And MCP now connects GitHub Copilot in VS Code to Snowflake Cortex Agents. OpenFlow keeps expanding with SQL Server CDC, Amazon Kinesis streaming, and more. See you at Summit!

Snowflake Summit 2026 - Tim is Speaking!

I'll be speaking at Snowflake Summit 2026 on NiFi and Agents. The Summit is ONE WEEK away - register now! Check the session catalog:

New SNACK-AI Repositories

SNACKAI-CoCo-Kalshi - Kalshi prediction market analytics with Cortex Code (NEW)
SNACKAI-CoCo-piups-breakout-garden - Raspberry Pi UPS breakout garden sensor monitoring with SNACK-AI
SNACKAI-CoCo-NanoSensorGarden - NVIDIA Nano sensor garden IoT project with Cortex Code
SNACKAI-CoCo-PremiumViews - Premium views and analytics built with Cortex Code
SLACKAI-CoCo-JetsonEdge - Edge AI on NVIDIA Jetson with Cortex Code and SNACK-AI
SNACKAI-CoCo-SnowflakeSummit2026Agenda - Summit 2026 session agenda explorer built with Cortex Code
SNACKAI-CoCo-CortexAITraining - Cortex AI training materials and examples built with SNACK-AI
SNACKAI-CoCo-AIGovernance - AI governance patterns built with Cortex Code and SNACK-AI
SNACKAI-CoCo-FindDataNearby - Location-aware data discovery built with Cortex Code
SNACKAI-CoCo-SpringSnowGhost - Spring ghost detection with Cortex Code and SNACK-AI
SNACKAI-CoCo-AIQueries - AI query builder with Cortex Code
SNACKAI-CoCo-PolyMarket - Prediction market analytics with Cortex Code
SNACKAI-CoCo-VPSCalculator - VPS cost calculator with Cortex Code

Upcoming Events: Catch Tim Live!

May 26: Predictive Spatial Analytics: Turn Location Data into Actions - Virtual
May 27: From Raw to Reliable: Build AI-Powered Data Quality Pipelines with Cortex Code - Virtual Hands-On Lab
May 28: Build Your First Agentic ML Pipeline with Natural Language - Virtual Hands-On Lab
June 1-4: Snowflake Summit 2026 - San Francisco, CA - Tim speaking on NiFi and Agents
June 1: 2:30 pm https://reg.snowflake.com/flow/snowflake/summit26/sessions/page/catalog/session/1766080156205001FeHz
June 4: Conf42 Database DevOps - SQL Automation Operations - Virtual

Past Events (Catch the Replays):

Snowflake Dev Day (In-Person): https://www.snowflake.com/en/dev-day/in-person/

All Snowflake Events: https://www.snowflake.com/about/events/

Snowflake Summit 2026 - San Francisco, June 1-4

ONE WEEK TO GO! Snowflake Summit 2026 returns to San Francisco June 1-4 with Anthropic's Daniela Amodei keynoting, 500+ sessions, 200+ partners, and new AI-powered experiences.

Agentic Enterprise Announcement: Snowflake Expands Intelligence and Cortex Code

Register now: https://www.snowflake.com/summit/

Featured: Cortex AI Function Studio (Public Preview)

Cortex AI Function Studio is now in public preview. Create, evaluate, and optimize production-ready Cortex AI Functions for unstructured and multimodal data workflows. Automates prompt engineering, model selection, benchmarking, and optimization.

Release Notes: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/release-notes/2026/other/2026-05-20-cortex-ai-function-studio-public-preview

Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/user-guide/snowflake-cortex/ai-function-studio

Featured: Iceberg Table Writes via External Query Engines (GA)

Write support for Snowflake-managed Iceberg tables using external query engines through Horizon Catalog is now GA. Read AND write to Snowflake-managed Iceberg v2 and v3 tables from Apache Spark, Trino, or any engine supporting the open Iceberg REST protocol.

Iceberg Just-in-Time Refresh (Limited Access)

Just-in-Time Refresh for Iceberg tables ensures data freshness without manual scheduling.

Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/LIMITEDACCESS/iceberg/just-in-time-refresh

Featured: Batch Cortex Search (GA)

Batch Cortex Search is GA. The CORTEX_SEARCH_BATCH table function runs millions of fuzzy-match queries against a Cortex Search Service in a single SQL statement. Use for entity resolution, audience matching, deduplication, and clustering with dedicated serverless compute.

Cortex AI & Agents

CREATE OR ALTER SEMANTIC VIEW (Preview)

CREATE OR ALTER SEMANTIC VIEW provides declarative semantic view management that's safe to re-run without replacing the view and re-granting privileges.

Auto-Generated Data Agents

Create data agents automatically from your data assets.

Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/collaboration/auto-generated-data-agents

Agent-Friendly Documentation

Snowflake docs now support hierarchical llms.txt for AI agents and LLMs.

Release Notes: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/release-notes/2026/other/2026-04-15-agent-friendly-docs

llms.txt: https://docs.snowflake.com/llms.txt

MCP Connects GitHub Copilot in VS Code to Snowflake Cortex Agents

Use MCP to connect GitHub Copilot in VS Code directly to Snowflake Cortex Agents for AI-assisted data development.

Cortex MCP Copilot Studio Integration

Reference implementation for connecting Microsoft Copilot Studio to Snowflake via MCP.

GitHub: https://github.com/sfc-gh-mmarzillo/cortex-mcp-copilot-studio

Cortex Code Skills: Ontology Stack Builder

Official Cortex Code skill for building ontology stacks.

GitHub: https://github.com/Snowflake-Labs/cortex-code-skills/tree/main/skills/ontology-stack-builder

Streamlit Agent Skills

Streamlit Agent Skills - official framework for building agent skills with Streamlit.

GitHub: https://github.com/streamlit/agent-skills

AI Observability Playbook for Cortex Code

See every prompt, tool call, and dollar in your AI workflows with the AI Observability Playbook.

RAG Pipeline in Snowflake Using Cortex Search

Build a complete RAG pipeline in Snowflake using Cortex Search - no external tools needed.

CoCo Plus

CoCo Plus - extended capabilities and tools for Cortex Code.

Website: https://cocoplus.dev/

Snowflake Platform Updates

dbt Projects on Snowflake Updates (May 19)

Enhanced dbt DAG visualization with column-level lineage powered by Horizon Catalog. Select a column to highlight all upstream/downstream models using it.

dbt Fusion Available on Snowflake

dbt Fusion is now available on Snowflake - next-generation dbt experience.

Dynamic Tables Documentation Rewrite (May 21)

30 new and updated pages covering dynamic table building, optimizing, monitoring, and troubleshooting.

Storage Lifecycle Policies for Dynamic Tables (GA - May 21)

Attach storage lifecycle policies to dynamic tables to delete or archive rows on a schedule independent of refresh.

Postgres Mirroring (Limited Access)

Postgres Mirroring for real-time data replication from PostgreSQL to Snowflake.

Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/LIMITEDACCESS/postgres-mirroring

Postgres Mirror Interactive Demo

Interactive demo for Postgres mirroring to Snowflake.

GitHub: https://github.com/sfc-gh-bleboeuf/postgres-mirror-interactive-demo

Snowflake PATs: Role-Restricted Tokens and Audit Framework

Programmatic Access Tokens now support role-restricted tokens and a stale PAT audit framework.

CREATE TABLE Documentation

Updated CREATE TABLE SQL reference.

Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/sql/create-table.md

AWS Glue OAuth Snowflake Connectivity

AWS Glue now supports OAuth for Snowflake connectivity.

Dataiku Launches Cobuild for Snowflake

Dataiku launches Cobuild prompt-driven data science on Snowflake.

OpenFlow

OpenFlow in Action: SQL Server CDC + API Integration + dbt Cloud

End-to-end guide on Snowflake OpenFlow with SQL Server CDC, API integration, and transformations with dbt Cloud.

Resources:

Real-Time Streaming from Amazon Kinesis to Snowflake with OpenFlow

Stream data from Amazon Kinesis to Snowflake in real-time using OpenFlow.

Semantic Views & Intelligence

Power BI Won't Support Snowflake Semantic Views - Now What?

Community analysis of the Power BI and Snowflake Semantic Views situation and alternative approaches.

Empowering Data Products with AI in Snowflake

How to empower data products with AI using Snowflake's native capabilities.

Snowflake Intelligence Demo

Demo repository for Snowflake Intelligence capabilities.

GitHub: https://github.com/datamindedbe/demo-technology-exploration/tree/main/demos/snowflake_intelligence

From the Community: Medium & Blogs

You Don't Need a Ticket to Govern Data Anymore - Cortex Code data governance skills
DARE-Bench: LLM Data Science Workflows - Benchmarking LLMs for data science
Agentic AI in Financial Services: Nasdaq Evestment - Agentic AI for financial services with Nasdaq
Beyond Transcription: Multimodal Video and Audio Analysis - Multimodal AI_COMPLETE deep dive
RAG Pipeline in Snowflake Using Cortex Search - No external tools needed
AI Observability Playbook for Cortex Code - Seeing every prompt, tool call, and dollar
Power BI Won't Support Semantic Views - Now What? - Alternative approaches
Snowcap: Why Snowcap for dbt - Snowcap platform for dbt on Snowflake

GitHub: Snowflake Labs & Community

cortex-code-skills/ontology-stack-builder - Ontology stack builder skill for Cortex Code
streamlit/agent-skills - Agent skills framework for Streamlit
cortex-mcp-copilot-studio - MCP integration for Copilot Studio
postgres-mirror-interactive-demo - Postgres mirroring demo
snowflake_intelligence demo - Snowflake Intelligence demo
microsoft/agent-governance-toolkit - Microsoft's agent governance toolkit
microsoft/TRELLIS.2 - Microsoft TRELLIS 2 research framework
SNACKAI-CoCo-Kalshi - Kalshi prediction market with Cortex Code
whichllm - Compare and choose the right LLM for your task
Qwopus3.6-35B (HuggingFace) - Qwopus 3.6 35B model GGUF
files.md - Markdown-based file management
sleuth-io/sx - Sleuth developer experience tool
deskreen - Turn any device into a secondary screen
Compose-Examples - Docker Compose examples collection
omniparse - Parse any document into structured data
openbrief - Open source briefing and summary tool
trypost - API testing and development tool
ShadowCat - Security research tool
CloakBrowser - Privacy-focused browser

Video Content

Snowflake AI & Data Playlist - Complete Snowflake AI video series
Cortex AI Function Studio Demo - Function Studio walkthrough

Pexels API

Free stock photos and videos API for building visual applications.

Documentation: https://www.pexels.com/api/documentation/

SNACK-AI: The 2026 Pattern

As we look forward in 2026, SNACK-AI is the architectural pattern for powering AI applications at any scale - from mobile phones and robots to massive enterprise clusters.

SNACK-AI integrates: