CREATE STAGE

Creates an internal or external stage.

Syntax

-- Internal stage
CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] STAGE [ IF NOT EXISTS ] <internal_stage_name>
  [ FILE_FORMAT = (
         FORMAT_NAME = '<your-custom-format>'
         | TYPE = { CSV | TSV | NDJSON | PARQUET | ORC | AVRO | LANCE } [ formatTypeOptions ]
       ) ]
  [ COMMENT = '<string_literal>' ]

-- External stage
CREATE STAGE [ IF NOT EXISTS ] <external_stage_name>
    externalStageParams
  [ FILE_FORMAT = (
         FORMAT_NAME = '<your-custom-format>'
         | TYPE = { CSV | TSV | NDJSON | PARQUET | ORC | AVRO | LANCE } [ formatTypeOptions ]
       ) ]
  [ COMMENT = '<string_literal>' ]

externalStageParams

externalStageParams ::=
  '<protocol>://<location>'
  CONNECTION = (
        <connection_parameters>
  )
|
  CONNECTION = (
        CONNECTION_NAME = '<your-connection-name>'
  );

For the connection parameters available for different storage services, see Connection Parameters.

For more information on CONNECTION_NAME, see CREATE CONNECTION.

FILE_FORMAT

See Input & Output File Formats for details.

Access control requirements

To create a stage, the user performing the operation or the current_role must have the SUPER privilege.

Examples

Example 1: Create Internal Stage

This example creates an internal stage named my_internal_stage:

CREATE STAGE my_internal_stage;

DESC STAGE my_internal_stage;

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│       name        │ stage_type │ storage_type │ url  │ endpoint │ has_credentials │ has_encryption_key │ storage_params │ file_format_options │  creator │         created_on         │ comment │     owner     │
├───────────────────┼────────────┼──────────────┼──────┼──────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────────┼────────────────┼─────────────────────┼──────────┼────────────────────────────┼─────────┼───────────────┤
│ my_internal_stage │ Internal   │ NULL         │ NULL │ NULL     │ false           │ false              │ NULL           │ {"compression":...} │ root@%   │ 2026-06-16 22:21:19.000000 │         │ account_admin │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Example 2: Create External Stage with Connection

This example creates an external stage named my_s3_stage on Amazon S3 using a connection:

-- First create a connection
CREATE CONNECTION my_s3_connection
  STORAGE_TYPE = 's3'
  ACCESS_KEY_ID = '<your-access-key-id>'
  SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = '<your-secret-access-key>';

-- Create stage using the connection
CREATE STAGE my_s3_stage
  URL='s3://load/files/'
  CONNECTION = (CONNECTION_NAME = 'my_s3_connection');

DESC STAGE my_s3_stage;

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│    name     │ stage_type │ storage_type │       url        │ endpoint │ has_credentials │ has_encryption_key │   storage_params      │ file_format_options │ creator │         created_on         │ comment │     owner     │
├─────────────┼────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────────┼──────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────────┼───────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────┼────────────────────────────┼─────────┼───────────────┤
│ my_s3_stage │ External   │ s3           │ s3://load/files/ │ NULL     │ true            │ false              │ {"bucket":"load",...} │ {"compression":...} │ root@%  │ 2026-06-16 22:21:19.000000 │         │ account_admin │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Example 3: Create External Stage with AWS IAM User

This example creates an external stage named iam_external_stage on Amazon S3 with an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) user.

Step 1: Create Access Policy for S3 Bucket

The procedure below creates an access policy named lake-access for the bucket lake-toronto on Amazon S3:

1. Log into the AWS Management Console, then select Services > Security, Identity, & Compliance > IAM.
2. Select Account settings in the left navigation pane, and go to the Security Token Service (STS) section on the right page. Make sure the status of AWS region where your account belongs is Active.
3. Select Policies in the left navigation pane, then select Create policy on the right page.
4. Click the JSON tab, copy and paste the following code to the editor, then save the policy as lake_access.

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "AllObjectActions",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["s3:*Object"],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::lake-toronto/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "ListObjectsInBucket",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["s3:ListBucket"],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::lake-toronto"
    }
  ]
}

Step 2: Create IAM User

The procedure below creates an IAM user named lake and attaches the access policy lake-access to the user.

1. Select Users in the left navigation pane, then select Add users on the right page.
2. Configure the user:
   • Set the user name to lake.
   • When setting permissions for the user, click Attach policies directly, then search for and select the access policy lake-access.
3. After the user is created, click the user name to open the details page and select the Security credentials tab.
4. In the Access keys section, click Create access key.
5. Select Third-party service for the use case, and tick the checkbox below to confirm creation of the access key.
6. Copy and save the generated access key and secret access key to a safe place.

Step 3: Create External Stage

Use the IAM role to create an external stage with better security.

-- First create a connection using IAM role
CREATE CONNECTION iam_s3_connection
  STORAGE_TYPE = 's3'
  ROLE_ARN = 'arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/lake-access'
  EXTERNAL_ID = 'my-external-id-123';

-- Create stage using the connection
CREATE STAGE iam_external_stage
  URL = 's3://lake-toronto'
  CONNECTION = (CONNECTION_NAME = 'iam_s3_connection');

Example 4: Create External Stage on Cloudflare R2

Cloudflare R2 is an object storage service introduced by Cloudflare that is fully compatible with Amazon's AWS S3 service. This example creates an external stage named r2_stage on Cloudflare R2.

Step 1: Create Bucket

The procedure below creates a bucket named lake on Cloudflare R2.

1. Log into the Cloudflare dashboard, and select R2 in the left navigation pane.
2. Click Create bucket to create a bucket, and set the bucket name to lake. Once the bucket is successfully created, you can find the bucket endpoint right below the bucket name when you view the bucket details page.

Step 2: Create R2 API Token

The procedure below creates an R2 API token that includes an Access Key ID and a Secret Access Key.

1. Click Manage R2 API Tokens on R2 > Overview.
2. Click Create API token to create an API token.
3. When configuring the API token, select the necessary permission and set the TTL as needed.
4. Click Create API Token to obtain the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key. Copy and save them to a safe place.

Step 3: Create External Stage

Use the created Access Key ID and Secret Access Key to create an external stage named r2_stage.

-- First create a connection
CREATE CONNECTION r2_connection
  STORAGE_TYPE = 's3'
  REGION = 'auto'
  ENDPOINT_URL = '<your-bucket-endpoint>'
  ACCESS_KEY_ID = '<your-access-key-id>'
  SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = '<your-secret-access-key>';

-- Create stage using the connection
CREATE STAGE r2_stage
  URL='s3://lake/'
  CONNECTION = (CONNECTION_NAME = 'r2_connection');