ClickHouse Cloud Management

ADR: 2025-12-08-clickhouse-cloud-management-skill

Overview

ClickHouse Cloud user and permission management via SQL commands over HTTP interface. This skill covers database user creation, permission grants, and credential management for ClickHouse Cloud instances.

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when:

Creating database users for ClickHouse Cloud Managing user permissions (GRANT/REVOKE) Testing ClickHouse Cloud connectivity Troubleshooting authentication issues Understanding API key vs database user distinction Key Concepts Management Options

ClickHouse Cloud provides two management interfaces with different capabilities:

Task Via SQL (CLI/HTTP) Via Cloud Console Create database user CREATE USER Supported Grant permissions GRANT Supported Delete user DROP USER Supported Create API key Not possible Only here

Key distinction: Database users (created via SQL) authenticate to ClickHouse itself. API keys (created via console) authenticate to the ClickHouse Cloud management API.

Connection Details

ClickHouse Cloud exposes only HTTP interface publicly:

Port: 443 (HTTPS) Protocol: HTTP (not native ClickHouse protocol) Native protocol: Requires AWS PrivateLink (not available without enterprise setup) Password Requirements

ClickHouse Cloud enforces strong password policy:

Minimum 12 characters At least 1 uppercase letter At least 1 special character

Example compliant password: StrongPass@2025!

Quick Reference Create Read-Only User curl -s "https://default:PASSWORD@HOST:443/" --data-binary \ "CREATE USER my_reader IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPass@2025!' SETTINGS readonly = 1"

Grant Database Access curl -s "https://default:PASSWORD@HOST:443/" --data-binary \ "GRANT SELECT ON deribit.* TO my_reader"

Delete User curl -s "https://default:PASSWORD@HOST:443/" --data-binary \ "DROP USER my_reader"

For comprehensive SQL patterns and advanced permission scenarios, see SQL Patterns Reference.

Credential Sources 1Password Items (Engineering Vault) Item Purpose ClickHouse Cloud - API Key (Admin) Cloud management API (console operations) ClickHouse Cloud - API Key (Developer Read-only) Cloud management API (read-only) gapless-deribit-clickhouse Database default user credentials Retrieving Credentials

Database credentials (for SQL commands)

op item get "gapless-deribit-clickhouse" --vault Engineering --reveal

API key (for cloud management API)

op item get "ClickHouse Cloud - API Key (Admin)" --vault Engineering --reveal

Common Workflows Workflow 1: Create Application User Retrieve default user credentials from 1Password Create new user with appropriate permissions: HOST="your-instance.clickhouse.cloud" PASSWORD="default-user-password"

Create user

curl -s "https://default:$PASSWORD@$HOST:443/" --data-binary \ "CREATE USER app_user IDENTIFIED BY 'AppPass@2025!'"

Grant specific database access

curl -s "https://default:$PASSWORD@$HOST:443/" --data-binary \ "GRANT SELECT, INSERT ON mydb.* TO app_user"

Workflow 2: Verify User Exists curl -s "https://default:$PASSWORD@$HOST:443/" --data-binary "SHOW USERS"

Workflow 3: Test Connection curl -s "https://user:password@HOST:443/" --data-binary "SELECT 1"

Expected output: 1 (single row with value 1)

Troubleshooting Authentication Failed Verify password meets complexity requirements Check host URL includes port 443 Ensure using HTTPS (not HTTP) Permission Denied Verify user has required GRANT statements Check database and table names are correct Confirm user was created with correct settings Connection Timeout ClickHouse Cloud only exposes port 443 publicly Native protocol (port 9440) requires PrivateLink Use HTTP interface with curl or clickhouse-client HTTP mode Next Steps After User Creation

After creating a ClickHouse user, invoke devops-tools:clickhouse-pydantic-config to generate DBeaver configuration with the new credentials.

Additional Resources Reference Files

For detailed patterns and advanced techniques, consult:

references/sql-patterns.md - Complete SQL syntax reference with examples Python Driver Policy

For Python application code connecting to ClickHouse Cloud, use clickhouse-connect (official HTTP driver). See clickhouse-architect for recommended code patterns and why to avoid clickhouse-driver (community).

Related Skills quality-tools:clickhouse-architect - Schema design, compression codecs, Python driver policy devops-tools:clickhouse-pydantic-config - DBeaver configuration generation devops-tools:doppler-secret-validation - For storing credentials in Doppler devops-tools:doppler-workflows - For credential rotation workflows