Snowflake-Managed Iceberg: Load & Transform with Zero Compute (dlt + dbt)
The Playbook for Loading, Transforming, and Serving Snowflake-Managed Iceberg Using Zero Snowflake Compute
Getting data into Snowflake usually means turning on a warehouse. This ebook shows you the architecture that skips it entirely, using Snowflake Horizon's Iceberg REST Catalog.
Download the full playbook for loading raw data as Iceberg with dlt, transforming it with dbt on DuckDB, and serving the governed result with RBAC, masking, and lineage intact, plus the exact Terraform, SQL, and Python you need to stand it up yourself.
Inside, you'll find the exact Terraform and SQL setup for external volumes and roles, the Python wrapper needed to make dlt write Iceberg tables the way Snowflake expects, and a real cost log: 200 scheduled pipeline runs over two weeks that cost about two dollars total.
Get The Guide
Fill in a few details to get instant access.
Written by
Jeff Skoldberg, Snowflake Expert
Jeff Skoldberg has spent 15+ years turning messy data problems into clean systems, from supply chain analytics at Keurig to Snowflake architecture at Green Mountain Data Solutions.
What the guide covers
Load and Transform Data With Zero Snowflake Compute
Follow the exact dlt and dbt setup that writes and reshapes Iceberg tables directly through Snowflake's Horizon catalog, no warehouse required until someone actually queries the result.
Get Full Snowflake Governance, Automatically
See why role-based access, masking, lineage, and Cortex all apply the moment the table lands, since Snowflake never treats it as anything other than a real, managed table.
Avoid the Gotchas That Trip Up a First Attempt
Catch the three practical traps before they cost you time: the hostname format that breaks silently, the schema-casing rule that's different from normal Snowflake behavior, and what "warehouse" actually means in this context.