Meet the SnowConvert Migration Assistant: Your Key to Faster, AI-Powered Data Warehouse Modernization

Advanced SQL and complex stored procedures form the very backbone of data warehouses. Yet, during a migration, these intricate constructs frequently turn into costly and time-consuming hurdles. While many tools may offer automation to streamline the migration process, the unavoidable manual review of flagged issues – Errors, Warnings, and Issues (EWIs) – has historically demanded specialized expertise and a significant investment of time. This bottleneck can dramatically inflate project timelines, delaying access to critical insights and the full benefits of a new environment, like the Snowflake AI Data Cloud. 

That’s why we are excited to announce the public preview of the SnowConvert Migration Assistant, a new AI-powered feature specifically designed to tackle this migration bottleneck. Integrated directly into the Snowflake Visual Studio extension, this assistant uses the power of Snowflake Cortex AI to empower your team to resolve complex migration challenges with speed and efficiency. By providing AI-driven explanations and suggested fixes for EWIs directly within the SnowConvert outputs, this integration streamlines your development workflow. When facing EWI annotations, the extension acts as your expert guide, offering clear, concise explanations generated by large language models (LLMs) and AI-driven suggestions for effective resolutions.

With the new SnowConvert Migration Assistant, the often-daunting task of manually reviewing and resolving complex code issues becomes significantly more efficient. This innovation seeks to simplify and accelerate your data warehouse migrations, allowing you to unlock the value of the Snowflake AI Data Cloud faster.

See the SnowConvert Migration Assistant in Action

The SnowConvert Migration Assistant brings readily available fixes and suggestions to developers when and where they need it. When working with SnowConvert output files, users can interact with an AI-powered interface that explains each EWI in detail and suggests specific fixes. The assistant can handle a wide range of migration scenarios, from simple syntax differences to complex stored procedure conversions, providing detailed explanations that help users understand not just what to change but why the change is necessary.

What sets the SnowConvert Migration Assistant apart

Interactive, contextual problem solving

The true power of the SnowConvert Migration Assistant lies in its interactive nature. Users can engage in a direct dialogue about specific EWIs, asking for clarification or requesting alternative approaches tailored to their unique context. This conversational interface democratizes the migration process, making intelligent assistance readily available to users of all database expertise levels, from seasoned migration specialists to developers newer to the Snowflake ecosystem. Instead of static documentation, users can ask follow-up questions, request additional context, or explore alternative solutions, making the assistant a dynamic and significantly more powerful tool.

Secure and governed by design

A foundational principle in the development of this assistant was enabling uncompromising security and governance. To achieve this, all AI operations are executed entirely within the customer's own Snowflake account. This architectural decision enables code analysis and suggested fixes to adhere to the stringent security and governance standards that Snowflake customers have implemented. By seamlessly integrating with the existing Snowflake VS Code extension and leveraging Snowflake's robust security infrastructure, sensitive code and data don’t leave the customer's control, while providing cutting-edge AI capabilities.

Built on real-world experience

Our confidence in the SnowConvert Migration Assistant is deeply rooted in practical experience. We've analyzed common pain points, recurring errors, and the specific challenges encountered when dealing with complex SQL. This feature has been optimized based on data and learnings from numerous real-world data warehouse migrations. Furthermore, we've rigorously validated the assistant's effectiveness with real users during the private preview, incorporating their feedback to refine its accuracy, usability, and the relevance of its AI-driven explanations and suggested fixes. This iterative process, grounded in real-world scenarios and user validation, means the SnowConvert Migration Assistant directly addresses the practical hurdles of migration, offering improvements in speed and efficiency.

A strategic step forward

This release marks a significant step in our broader strategic direction: leveraging the power of AI to fundamentally simplify data warehouse migrations. By augmenting SnowConvert's robust conversion capabilities with the intelligence of Cortex AI, we are creating solutions that not only enhance efficiency but also maintain the high standards of reliability that our enterprise customers demand. This deep integration of AI into our migration product highlights our commitment to reducing the inherent complexity and time typically associated with data warehouse migrations, without compromising the precision and reliability our customers depend on.

Getting started

Ready to experience the power of an AI-assisted data warehouse migration? Getting started is straightforward. Users can access the SnowConvert Migration Assistant directly through the familiar Snowflake VS Code extension by simply enabling the feature within the extension's settings. Once enabled, the assistant automatically activates when you select SnowConvert output files containing EWIs, providing immediate, AI-powered assistance to guide you towards resolution. In addition, the assistant requires no additional configuration beyond the standard Snowflake connection settings already in use within VS Code, for immediate accessibility for all existing SnowConvert users.

Download the latest version of the Snowflake VS Code extension, navigate to the settings, and enable the SnowConvert Migration Assistant feature. Once enabled, you’ll be ready to experience its intelligent assistance firsthand as you work with your SnowConvert output files. Your feedback during this public preview will play a crucial role in shaping the future evolution of our AI-powered migration solutions, feel free to deliver it to [email protected]. And to dive deeper, explore Snowflake documentation.