dbt (Data Build Tool) helps data engineers manage data transformations using modular SQL and brings version control, testing, and documentation to their transformation logic. However, running dbt against production data warehouses like Snowflake can be slow, expensive, and risky. This session introduces a new way to develop and test dbt workflows locally using the Snowflake emulator in LocalStack. You'll learn how to set up a local dbt environment, configure dbt to connect to the Snowflake emulator, run and validate dbt models locally without using a real Snowflake account, and iterate quickly on transformations before pushing them to production. Through a hands-on factory app example, we’ll walk through how to use the Snowflake emulator to run dbt models on your laptop, helping you test logic, catch issues early, and reduce cloud costs.

In this video, you'll learn how to set up and integrate LocalStack's Snowflake Emulator to develop and test your Snowflake data apps in your local environment or CI pipelines. Whether you're using Snowpark, various client libraries, or building interactive data apps with frameworks like Streamlit, this emulator simplifies your developer experience. We'll walk you through step-by-step instructions on installing the Snowflake emulator with the LocalStack CLI & Docker, configuring and integrating the emulator with popular SQL clients, such as DBeaver, and running SQL queries locally to replicate a full Snowflake environment without cloud dependencies. ⚡ Get early access! The Snowflake Emulator is currently in public preview—reach out to us for access and start building today!

Real cloud developers aren’t pushing straight to AWS. They’re building and testing everything locally before a single deploy goes live. This episode breaks down the modern cloud dev workflow and how tools like LocalStack make it possible to move fast without burning money (or trust). Learn how local-first dev culture is changing the cloud game.

LocalStack Applications in Developer Hub provides sample templates to help LocalStack users adopt real-world scenarios to rapidly and conveniently create, configure, and deploy applications locally.
Getting started
In this demo, we will setup a Sagemaker on Localstack