Environment Setup and Connection

Overview: Follow these steps to prepare Databricks for Klaviyo. You’ll create required schemas (in a catalog), set up a dedicated account and access token for Klaviyo, assign the minimum required privileges, verify the configuration, and connect Databricks to Klaviyo.

Important: The Databricks connection currently supports importing data into Klaviyo only.

• Profiles can be imported now.
• Events import is coming soon.
• Exporting to Databricks is not yet available. Until then, exporting to S3 is recommended.

For details on how data warehouse imports work in Klaviyo—including schema structure, required tables, and field mappings—see How Data Warehouse Imports Work in Klaviyo .

1) Create Required Schemas

In Databricks, schemas (sometimes called databases) live inside a catalog. You can use the default main catalog or another catalog if your workspace uses Unity Catalog.

USE CATALOG main;  -- or your organization’s designated catalog
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS KLAVIYO_IMPORT_FROM_DWH;
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS KLAVIYO_TMP;

• KLAVIYO_IMPORT_FROM_DWH: Tables and views created in this schema will be available for selection when configuring a new sync.
• KLAVIYO_TMP: temporary/staging data used during sync.

Note: If your workspace does not use Unity Catalog, Databricks treats “schema” and “database” as equivalent. You can use CREATE DATABASE instead of CREATE SCHEMA.

2) Create the Klaviyo Service Account and Access Token

Klaviyo authenticates to Databricks using a dedicated account with a personal access token (PAT). Use a non-human (service) account when possible and store the PAT securely (e.g., a password manager or secret store). You will provide this token to Klaviyo during initial setup.

2.1 Create the account

Create a Databricks workspace user or a service principal that Klaviyo will use exclusively for this integration.

2.2 Generate the personal access token

• Workspace user account: Generate the token via the Databricks web UI (see Databricks docs): Create personal access tokens for workspace users
• Service principal: Generate the token using the Databricks CLI (see Databricks docs): Create personal access tokens via the Databricks CLI

Important: Treat the PAT as a secret. Anyone with the token can access Databricks with the associated account’s permissions.

3) Assign Required Permissions

Grant the Klaviyo account the following privileges on the schemas created in Step 1. Replace klaviyo_service_user with your actual username or service principal name, and prefix schemas with the correct catalog (e.g., main).

-- Grant permissions on temporary schema
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON SCHEMA main.KLAVIYO_TMP TO `klaviyo_service_user`;

-- OR, grant granular privileges:
GRANT USE SCHEMA, MODIFY, SELECT, CREATE TABLE ON SCHEMA main.KLAVIYO_TMP TO `klaviyo_service_user`;

-- Grant read-only access to import schema
GRANT USE SCHEMA, SELECT ON SCHEMA main.KLAVIYO_IMPORT_FROM_DWH TO `klaviyo_service_user`;

Best practice: Apply the principle of least privilege—grant only what’s required.

4) Verify Your Setup (Optional)

4.1 Confirm the schemas exist

Run in a Databricks SQL notebook or editor:

SHOW SCHEMAS IN main;  -- replace 'main' with your catalog if different

You should see:

klaviyo_import_from_dwh
klaviyo_tmp

4.2 Test authentication (using your PAT)

Use the Databricks CLI with the same token you plan to provide to Klaviyo:

# Set your token and host (example for AWS)
export DATABRICKS_HOST="https://<your-workspace>.cloud.databricks.com"
export DATABRICKS_TOKEN="<your-PAT>"

# Run a simple API call
databricks current-user me

Expected result: JSON output showing the user or service principal details (e.g., display name, user ID). If you get an HTTP 403 or authentication error, verify the token and host URL.

4.3 Check permissions on each schema

SHOW GRANTS ON SCHEMA main.klaviyo_tmp;
SHOW GRANTS ON SCHEMA main.klaviyo_import_from_dwh;

Confirm that your Klaviyo account appears with the expected privileges (e.g., USE SCHEMA, SELECT, MODIFY, CREATE TABLE).

4.4 Validate create/read operations

-- Test create/drop in KLAVIYO_TMP
USE SCHEMA main.klaviyo_tmp;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test_permissions (id INT);
DROP TABLE test_permissions;

-- Test select in KLAVIYO_IMPORT_FROM_DWH
USE SCHEMA main.klaviyo_import_from_dwh;
SHOW TABLES;

Tips:

• Run these verification steps using the same identity and PAT that you’ll share with Klaviyo.
• Retain the SQL grant statements and verification output for audit/troubleshooting.
• Rotate the PAT on a regular cadence and after staff changes.

5) Connect Klaviyo to Databricks

Once Databricks is configured, complete the connection in Klaviyo.

1. In Klaviyo, open the left sidebar and navigate to Advanced > Syncing.
2. Click Create sync.
3. Select Import data from your data warehouse.
4. Choose Databricks as your data warehouse.
5. Click Connect to Databricks.

When prompted, provide the following connection details:

SHOW CATALOGS;

After you connect: Klaviyo will test the connection and confirm access to your Databricks environment. Once verified, you can configure syncs to import data from the schemas you prepared earlier.

Next step: After connecting successfully, proceed to create your first sync in Klaviyo and start importing data from Databricks.