Cortex and Tessra

A Cortex agent can propose what should happen next. Tessra is the SQL-native execution control plane: deterministic policy and budgets before dispatch, human approvals when required, governed execution through configured connectors, and queryable receipts in your Snowflake account.

Cortex (SQL agent)
    →  Tessra Native procedures (intent + status)
    →  Tessra Action Service (policy · approval · execution)
    →  Downstream systems + Snowflake ledger / receipts

Cortex decides

Agents running in Snowflake can choose an action key, construct parameters, and provide a human-readable reason. That decision is only a proposal until Tessra accepts the request and completes evaluation.

Tessra enforces

Once submitted, the same governance path applies as for any other caller: policy outcomes, approval requirements, execution dispatch, and durable status transitions. Cortex does not bypass approvals and does not short-circuit receipts.

One-time workspace configuration

Set Action Service origin (no /health suffix)

UPDATE APP.DURABLE_ORG
SET
  ACTION_SERVICE_BASE_URL = 'https://api.tessra.ai',
  ACTION_SERVICE_HARNESS_SECRET = ''
WHERE WORKSPACE_KEY = LOWER(TRIM(CURRENT_ACCOUNT())) || ':' || LOWER(TRIM(CURRENT_DATABASE()));

Submit a governed action

CALL APP.REQUEST_ACTION_FROM_CORTEX(
  'ad_budget.increase',
  OBJECT_CONSTRUCT('amount', 500, 'currency', 'USD'),
  'Reduce spend for Q1 planning'
);

Tessra sets requested_by to cortex_agent, source_system to cortex, generates an idempotency key, and stores your string in reason plus context.request_reason.

Poll until finished

CALL APP.GET_ACTION_STATUS_FOR_CORTEX('<intent_id_from_previous_step>');

next_step semantics

WAIT_FOR_APPROVAL — policy requires a human decision.
IN_PROGRESS — still evaluating, executing, or otherwise not finished.
DONE — intent reached EXECUTED.
DENIED — policy or budget denied (or simulated deny).
FAILED — transport or configuration failure, or intent status FAILED.

Low-level callers can use APP.REQUEST_ACTION / APP.GET_ACTION_STATUS with explicit Action Service parameters—see API / SQL reference.

SQL Quickstart · Cortex first run · Documentation