Connecting and running queries

This topic provides a walkthrough and examples for how to use the Firebolt Python SDK to connect to Firebolt resources to run commands and query data.

Setting up a connection

To connect to a Firebolt database to run queries or command, you must provide your account credentials through a connection request.

To get started, follow the steps below:

1. Import modules

The Firebolt Python SDK requires you to import the following modules before making any command or query requests to your Firebolt database.

from firebolt.db import connect
from firebolt.client.auth import ClientCredentials

2. Connect to your database and engine

Your account information can be provided as parameters in a connection() function.

A connection requires the following parameters:

auth	Auth object, containing your credentials. See Auth for more details.
account_name	The name of the account you’re using to connect to Firebolt. Must be specified in order to authenticate.
database	Optional. The name of the database you would like to connect to.
engine_name	Optional. The name of the engine to use for SQL queries.

Note

If you specify engine_name but not the database Python SDK will automatically resolve the database for you behind the scenes.

If an engine_name is not specified the SDK will not be bound to any engine. In this case, if also no database is specified you can still connect, but queries are limited to database and engine management queries e.g. CREATE DATABASE, START ENGINE, etc. To interact with tables in a database you have to provide the database parameter when connecting with no engine.

This information can be provided in multiple ways.

• Set credentials manually

  You can manually include your account information in a connection object in your code for any queries you want to request.

  Replace the values in the example code below with your Firebolt account credentials as appropriate.

  id = "your_service_account_id"
  secret = "your_service_account_secret"
  engine_name = "your_engine"
  database_name = "your_database"
  account_name = "your_account"
  
  with connect(
          engine_name=engine_name,
          database=database_name,
          account_name=account_name,
          auth=ClientCredentials(id, secret),
  ) as connection:
      cursor = connection.cursor()
  

• Use an .env file

  Consolidating all of your Firebolt credentials into a .env file can help protect sensitive information from exposure. Create an .env file with the following key-value pairs, and replace the values with your information.

  FIREBOLT_CLIENT_ID="your_service_account_id"
  FIREBOLT_CLIENT_SECRET="your_service_account_secret"
  FIREBOLT_ENGINE="your_engine"
  FIREBOLT_DB="your_database"
  FIREBOLT_ACCOUNT="your_account"
  

  Be sure to place this .env file into your root directory.

  Your connection script can load these environmental variables from the .env file by using the python-dotenv package. Note that the example below imports the os and dotenv modules in order to load the environmental variables.

  import os
  from dotenv import load_dotenv
  
  load_dotenv()
  
  with connect(
      auth=ClientCredentials(
          os.getenv("FIREBOLT_CLIENT_ID"),
          os.getenv("FIREBOLT_CLIENT_SECRET")
      ),
      engine_name=os.getenv('FIREBOLT_ENGINE'),
      database=os.getenv('FIREBOLT_DB'),
      account_name=os.getenv('FIREBOLT_ACCOUNT'),
  ) as connection:
      cursor = connection.cursor()
  

3. Token management/caching

Firebolt allows access by using authentication and refresh tokens. In order to authenticate, the SDK issues an http login request to the Firebolt API, providing username and password. The API returns an authentication token and refresh token. Authentication tokens are valid for 12 hours, and can be refreshed using the refresh token. The SDK uses the authentication token for all subsequent requests, and includes logic for refreshing the token if it is reported as expired.

Because a typical script that uses the SDK usually runs for less than a minute and then is closed, the token is lost because it’s only stored in a process memory. To avoid that, the SDK by default does token caching. Token caching is designed to preserve the token in filesystem to later reuse it for requests and save time on authentication api request. It also helps for workflows that use the SDL in parallel or in sequential scripts on the same machine, as only a single authentication request is performed. The caching works by preserving the token value and it’s expiration timestamp in filesystem, in user data directory. On the authentication, the SDK first tries to find a token cache file and, if it exists, checks that token is not yet expired. If the token is valid, it’s used for further authorization. The token value itself is encrypted with PBKDF2 algorithm, the encryption key is a combination of user credentials.

Token caching can be disabled if desired. If the server the SDK is running on has a read only filesystem (when using AWS Lambda, for example), then the SDK will not be able to store the token. The caching is disabled by adding use_token_cache=False to the auth object. From the examples above, it would look like: auth=UsernamePassword(username, password,use_token_cache=False),

4. Execute commands using the cursor

The cursor object can be used to send queries and commands to your Firebolt database and engine. See below for examples of functions using the cursor object.

Synchronous command and query examples

This section includes Python examples of various SQL commands and queries.

Inserting and selecting data

The example below uses cursor to create a new table called test_table, insert rows into it, and then select the table’s contents.

The engine attached to your specified database must be started before executing any queries. For help, see Starting an engine.

cursor.execute(
    """
    CREATE FACT TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test_table (
        id INT,
        name TEXT
    )
    PRIMARY INDEX id;
    """
)

cursor.execute(
    """
    INSERT INTO test_table VALUES
    (1, 'hello'),
    (2, 'world'),
    (3, '!');
    """
)

cursor.execute("SELECT * FROM test_table;")

cursor.close()

Note

For reference documentation on cursor functions, see cursor.

Fetching query results

After running a query, you can fetch the results using a cursor object. The examples below use the data queried from test_table created in the Inserting and selecting data.

print(cursor.fetchone())

Returns: [2, 'world']

print(cursor.fetchmany(2))

Returns: [[1, 'hello'], [3, '!']]

print(cursor.fetchall())

Returns: [[2, 'world'], [1, 'hello'], [3, '!']]

Fetching query result information

After running a query, you can fetch information about the results using the same cursor object. The examples below are from the last SELECT query in Inserting and selecting data.

rowcount

• For a SELECT query, rowcount is the number of rows selected.

• For An INSERT query, it is always -1.

• For DDL (CREATE/DROP), it is always 1

print("Rowcount: ", cursor.rowcount)

Returns: Rowcount:  3

description

description is a list of Column objects, each one responsible for a single column in a result set. Only name and type_code fields get populated, all others are always empty.

• name is the name of the column.

• type_code is the data type of the column. It can be:

  • a python type (int, float, str, date, datetime)

  • an ARRAY object, that signifies a list of some type. The inner type can is stored in .subtype field

  • a DECIMAL object, that signifies a decimal value. It’s precision and scale are stored in .precision and .scale fields

  • a DATETIME64 object, that signifies a datetime value with an extended precision. The precision is stored in .precision

print("Description: ", cursor.description)

Returns: Description:  [Column(name='id', type_code=<class 'int'>, display_size=None, internal_size=None, precision=None, scale=None, null_ok=None), Column(name='name', type_code=<class 'str'>, display_size=None, internal_size=None, precision=None, scale=None, null_ok=None)]

Executing parameterized queries

Parameterized queries (also known as “prepared statements”) format a SQL query with placeholders and then pass values into those placeholders when the query is run. This protects against SQL injection attacks and also helps manage dynamic queries that are likely to change, such as filter UIs or access control.

To run a parameterized query, use the execute() cursor method. Add placeholders to your statement using question marks ?, and in the second argument pass a tuple of parameters equal in length to the number of ? in the statement.

cursor.execute(
    """
    CREATE FACT TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test_table2 (
        id INT,
        name TEXT,
        date_value DATE
    )
    PRIMARY INDEX id;"""
)

cursor.execute(
    "INSERT INTO test_table2 VALUES (?, ?, ?)",
    (1, "apple", "2018-01-01"),
)

cursor.close()

If you need to run the same statement multiple times with different parameter inputs, you can use the executemany() cursor method. This allows multiple tuples to be passed as values in the second argument.

cursor.executemany(
    "INSERT INTO test_table2 VALUES (?, ?, ?)",
    (
        (2, "banana", "2019-01-01"),
        (3, "carrot", "2020-01-01"),
        (4, "donut", "2021-01-01")
    )
)

cursor.close()

Setting session parameters

Session parameters are special SQL statements allowing you to modify the behavior of the current session. For example, you can set the time zone for the current session using the SET time_zone statement. More information on session parameters can be found in the relevant section in Firebolt docs.

In Python SDK session parameters are stored on the cursor object and are set using the execute() method. This means that each cursor you create will act independently of each other. Any session parameters on one will have no effect on another cursor. The example below sets the time zone to UTC and then selects a timestamp with time zone.

cursor.execute("SET time_zone = 'UTC'")
cursor.execute("SELECT TIMESTAMPTZ '1996-09-03 11:19:33.123456 Europe/Berlin'")

Alternatively set paramters can be set in a multi-statement query.

cursor.execute("SET time_zone = 'UTC'; SELECT TIMESTAMPTZ '1996-09-03 11:19:33.123456 Europe/Berlin'")

Even when set in a multi-statement query, the session parameters will be set for the entire session, not just for the duration of the query. To reset the parameter either set it to a new value or use flush_parameters() method.

cursor.flush_parameters()

Note

Some parameters are not allowed. account_id, output_format, database and engine are internal parameters and should not be set using the SET statement. Database and engine parameters (if enabled on your Firebolt version) can be set via USE DATABASE and USE ENGINE.

Executing multiple-statement queries

Multiple-statement queries allow you to run a series of SQL statements sequentially with just one method call. Statements are separated using a semicolon ;, similar to making SQL statements in the Firebolt UI.

cursor.execute(
    """
    SELECT * FROM test_table WHERE id < 4;
    SELECT * FROM test_table WHERE id > 2;
    """
)
print("First query: ", cursor.fetchall())
assert cursor.nextset()
print("Second query: ", cursor.fetchall())
assert cursor.nextset() is None

cursor.close()

Returns:

First query: [[2, 'banana', datetime.date(2019, 1, 1)],
              [3, 'carrot', datetime.date(2020, 1, 1)],
              [1, 'apple', datetime.date(2018, 1, 1)]]
Second query: [[3, 'carrot', datetime.date(2020, 1, 1)],
               [4, 'donut', datetime.date(2021, 1, 1)]]

Note

Multiple statement queries are not able to use placeholder values for parameterized queries.

Asynchronous query execution

Asynchronous Python SDK functionality is used to write concurrent code. Unlike in a synchronous approach, when executing a query is a blocking operation, this approach allows doing other processing or queries while the original query is waiting on the network or the server to respond. This is especially useful when executing slower queries.

Make sure you’re familiar with the Asyncio approach before using asynchronous Python SDK, as it requires special async/await syntax.

Simple asynchronous example

This example illustrates a simple query execution via the async Python SDK. It does not have any performance benefits, but rather shows the difference in syntax from the synchronous version. It can be extended to run alongside of other operations.

from asyncio import run
from firebolt.async_db import connect as async_connect
from firebolt.client.auth import ClientCredentials


async def run_query():
    id = "your_service_account_id"
    secret = "your_service_account_secret"
    engine_name = "your_engine"
    database_name = "your_database"
    account_name = "your_account"

    query = "select * from my_table"

    async with await async_connect(
        engine_name=engine_name,
        database=database_name,
        account_name=account_name,
        auth=ClientCredentials(id, secret),
    ) as connection:
        cursor = connection.cursor()

        # Asyncronously execute a query
        rowcount = await cursor.execute(query)

        # Asyncronously fetch a result
        single_row = await cursor.fetchone()
        multiple_rows = await cursor.fetchmany(5)
        all_remaining_rows = await cursor.fetchall()

# Run async `run_query` from the synchronous context of your script
run(run_query())

Running multiple queries in parallel

Building up on the previous example, we can execute several queries concurently. This is especially useful when queries do not depend on each other and can be run at the same time.

from asyncio import gather, run
from firebolt.async_db import connect as async_connect
from firebolt.client.auth import ClientCredentials


async def execute_sql(connection, query):
    # Create a new cursor for every query
    cursor = connection.cursor()
    # Wait for cursor to execute a query
    await cursor.execute(query)
    # Return full query result
    return await cursor.fetchall()


async def run_multiple_queries():
    id = "your_service_account_id"
    secret = "your_service_account_secret"
    engine_name = "your_engine"
    database_name = "your_database"
    account_name = "your_account"

    queries = [
        "select * from table_1",
        "select * from table_2",
        "select * from table_3",
    ]

    async with await async_connect(
        engine_name=engine_name,
        database=database_name,
        account_name=account_name,
        auth=ClientCredentials(id, secret),
    ) as connection:
        # Create async tasks for every query
        tasks = [execute_sql(connection, query) for query in queries]
        # Execute tasks concurently
        results = await gather(*tasks)
        # Print query results
        for i, result in enumerate(results):
            print(f"Query {i}: {result}")


run(run_multiple_queries())

Note

This will run all queries specified in queries list at the same time. With heavy queries you have to be mindful of the engine capability here. Excessive parallelisations can lead to degraded performance. You should also make sure the machine running this code has enough RAM to store all the results you’re fetching.

Limiting number of conccurent queries suggests a way to avoid this.

Limiting number of conccurent queries

It’s generally a good practice to limit a number of queries running at the same time. It ensures a load on both server and client machines can be controlled. A suggested way is to use the Semaphore.

from asyncio import gather, run, Semaphore
from firebolt.async_db import connect as async_connect
from firebolt.client.auth import ClientCredentials


MAX_PARALLEL = 2


async def gather_limited(tasks, max_parallel):
    sem = Semaphore(max_parallel)

    async def limited_task(task):
        async with sem:
            await task

    await gather(*[limited_task(t) for t in tasks])


async def execute_sql(connection, query):
    # Create a new cursor for every query
    cursor = connection.cursor()
    # Wait for cursor to execute a query
    await cursor.execute(query)
    # Return full query result
    return await cursor.fetchall()


async def run_multiple_queries():
    id = "your_service_account_id"
    secret = "your_service_account_secret"
    engine_name = "your_engine"
    database_name = "your_database"
    account_name = "your_account"

    queries = [
        "select * from table_1",
        "select * from table_2",
        "select * from table_3",
    ]

    async with await async_connect(
        engine_name=engine_name,
        database=database_name,
        account_name=account_name,
        auth=ClientCredentials(id, secret),
    ) as connection:
        # Create async tasks for every query
        tasks = [execute_sql(connection, query) for query in queries]
        # Execute tasks concurently, limiting the parallelism
        results = await gather_limited(*tasks, MAX_PARALLEL)
        # Print query results
        for i, result in enumerate(results):
            print(f"Query {i}: {result}")


run(run_multiple_queries())

Server-side asynchronous query execution

Firebolt supports server-side asynchronous query execution. This feature allows you to run queries in the background and fetch the results later. This is especially useful for long-running queries that you don’t want to wait for or maintain a persistent connection to the server.

This feature is not to be confused with the Python SDK’s asynchronous functionality, which is described in the Asynchronous query execution section, used to write concurrent code. Server-side asynchronous query execution is a feature of the Firebolt engine itself.

Submitting an asynchronous query

Use firebolt.db.cursor.Cursor.execute_async() method to run query without maintaing a persistent connection. This method will return immediately, and the query will be executed in the background. Return value of execute_async is -1, which is the rowcount for queries where it’s not applicable. cursor.async_query_token attribute will contain a token that can be used to monitor the query status.

# Synchronous execution
cursor.execute("CREATE TABLE my_table (id INT, name TEXT, date_value DATE)")

# Asynchronous execution
cursor.execute_async("INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (5, 'egg', '2022-01-01')")
token = cursor.async_query_token

Trying to access async_query_token before calling execute_async will raise an exception.

Note

Multiple-statement queries are not supported for asynchronous queries. However, you can run each statement separately using multiple execute_async calls.

Note

Fetching data via SELECT is not supported and will raise an exception. execute_async is best suited for DML queries.

Monitoring the query status

To check the async query status you need to retrieve the token of the query. The token is a unique identifier for the query and can be used to fetch the query status. You can store this token outside of the current process and use it later to check the query status. Connection object has two methods to check the query status: firebolt.db.connection.Connection.is_async_query_running() and firebolt.db.connection.Connection.is_async_query_successful().`is_async_query_running` will return True if the query is still running, and False otherwise. is_async_query_successful will return True if the query has finished successfully, None if query is still running and False if the query has failed.

while(connection.is_async_query_running(token)):
    print("Query is still running")
    time.sleep(1)
print("Query has finished")

success = connection.is_async_query_successful(token)
# success is None if the query is still running
if success is None:
    # we should not reach this point since we've waited for is_async_query_running
    raise Exception("The query is still running, use is_async_query_running to check the status")

if success:
    print("Query was successful")
else:
    print("Query failed")

Thread safety

Thread safety is set to 2, meaning it’s safe to share the module and Connection object across threads. Cursor is a lightweight object that should be instantiated by calling connection.cursor() within a thread and should not be shared across different threads. Similarly, in an asynchronous context the Cursor obejct should not be shared across tasks as it will lead to a nondeterministic data returned. Follow the best practice from the Running multiple queries in parallel.

Using DATE and DATETIME values

DATE, DATETIME and TIMESTAMP values used in SQL insertion statements must be provided in a specific format; otherwise they could be read incorrectly.

• DATE values should be formatted as YYYY-MM-DD

• DATETIME and TIMESTAMP values should be formatted as YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.SSSSSS

The datetime module from the Python standard library contains various classes and methods to format DATE, TIMESTAMP and DATETIME data types.

You can import this module as follows:

from datetime import datetime

Execution timeout

The Firebolt Python SDK allows you to set a timeout for query execution. In order to do this, you can call the Cursor.execute() or Cursor.executemany() function with the timeout_seconds parameter provided. In case the timeout will be reached before the query execution finishes, the function will raise a QueryTimeoutError exception.

cursor.execute(
    "SELECT * FROM test_table;",
    timeout_seconds=5
)

Warning: If running multiple queries, and one of queries times out, all the previous queries will not be rolled back and their result will persist. All the remaining queries will be cancelled.