For AI agents: a Markdown version of this page is at https://docs.snowplow.io/docs/signals/applications/services.md. The index of all documentation pages is at https://docs.snowplow.io/llms.txt, and the index for this section is at https://docs.snowplow.io/docs/signals/llms.txt.

Define services

Services group attribute groups together for serving to your applications. They provide a stable interface for retrieving attributes: we strongly recommend using services in production applications.

The Node.js SDK reads services but can't create them. Use Console or the Python SDK to define services.

A service can include both stream attribute groups and warehouse attribute groups. If they use the same attribute key, one request to the service returns the real-time and warehouse attributes for that user together.

Console
Python SDK

To create a service, go to Signals > Services in Snowplow Console and follow the instructions.

Create service form with name, description, owner, and attribute group selection

To configure a service, you'll need to specify:

A unique name
An optional description
The email address of the primary owner or maintainer
Which attribute groups to include

Use the Service class to define a service. You can refer to attribute groups either by passing the objects directly, or by name and version using a dictionary:

python
from snowplow_signals import Service

# Refer to attribute groups by name and version
my_service = Service(
    name='my_service',
    description='A collection of attribute groups',
    owner="user@company.com",
    attribute_groups=[
        {"name": "user_attributes", "version": 2},
        {"name": "session_attributes", "version": 1},
    ],
)

# Or pass the objects directly
my_service = Service(
    name='my_service',
    description='A collection of attribute groups',
    owner="user@company.com",
    attribute_groups=[
        my_attribute_group,
        another_attribute_group,
    ],
)

This table lists all available arguments for a Service:

Argument	Description	Type	Required?
`name`	The name of the service	`string`	✅
`description`	A description of the service	`string`	❌
`owner`	The owner of the service	`string`	✅
`attribute_groups`	List of attribute groups with optional version specification	list of `AttributeGroup` or dict	❌

Versioning

When choosing which attribute groups to include, you'll select a specific version of each attribute group.

Services themselves are not versioned. You can update them to use different attribute groups, or different attribute group versions, at any time.

Console
Python SDK

Service configuration showing selected attribute groups with version numbers

Specify the version of each attribute group in the attribute_groups list using a dictionary with name and version keys, or by using a versioned AttributeGroup object directly.

Manage services

Console
Python SDK

Services are automatically published as soon as they're created. They're a wrapper for consuming calculated attributes, and don't cause any additional processing themselves.

To edit a service definition, go to the service details page and click the Edit button.

To delete a service, go to the service details page and click the ⋮ button, then choose Delete.

Signals service details page in Snowplow Console showing the Edit button and the three-dot overflow menu expanded with the Delete option

Use publish() to register services with Signals.

python
import os
from snowplow_signals import Signals

sp_signals = Signals(
    api_url=os.environ["SIGNALS_API_URL"],
    api_key=os.environ["SNOWPLOW_API_KEY"],
    api_key_id=os.environ["SNOWPLOW_API_KEY_ID"],
    org_id=os.environ["SNOWPLOW_ORG_ID"],
)

# my_service and my_other_service: services defined as in Create a service
sp_signals.publish([
    my_service,
    my_other_service,
])

Versioning​

Manage services​

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Versioning

Manage services