Summary
On August 21, 2026, Snowflake released CoCo automations to public preview in the CoCo CLI and Snowsight, letting users schedule recurring, unattended agent runs in a Snowflake-managed sandbox. Each run executes even when the terminal or browser is closed and creates an inspectable Cortex thread; a Cortex Agent code-execution tool also entered preview.
What changed
Snowflake added CoCo automations (public preview): turn a prompt into a recurring, scheduled, unattended CoCo run in a Snowflake-managed sandbox, each producing a Cortex thread you can inspect and continue, manageable from both CLI and Snowsight. The Cortex Agent code-execution tool (sandboxed Python) also entered public preview.
Why it matters
Scheduled, unattended agent runs inside the data warehouse turn Cortex from an interactive assistant into a background automation layer sitting next to governed enterprise data, reducing the need to move data out to run agentic workflows.
Evidence excerpt
"Automations let you schedule recurring, unattended CoCo runs that execute in a Snowflake-managed sandbox. Each run creates a Cortex thread that you can inspect and continue in CoCo."