Amazon Redshift

Connect Amazon Redshift provisioned clusters or Redshift Serverless to Better Analyst, with read-only user setup, network access, Data Flows and per-member row rules.

Connect an Amazon Redshift provisioned cluster or a Redshift Serverless workgroup to ask questions in plain English, build dashboards that refresh on a schedule, and move results with Data Flows.

Prerequisites

  • A Redshift provisioned cluster or Serverless workgroup
  • A database user and password (IAM authentication is not supported yet)
  • Network access from Better Analyst to the cluster or workgroup

Connection Details

FieldDescriptionExample
EndpointCluster or workgroup endpoint hostmy-cluster.abc123.us-east-1.redshift.amazonaws.com
PortRedshift port5439
UsernameDatabase userbetter_analyst
PasswordDatabase user password********
DatabaseDatabase to querydev
SSLAlways required by defaultRequire

You can paste the full Endpoint value from the Redshift console (for example my-cluster.abc123.us-east-1.redshift.amazonaws.com:5439/dev). Better Analyst fills in the port and database for you.

Setup Steps

1. Create a Read-Only User

CREATE USER better_analyst PASSWORD 'Your-secure-password1';

GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO better_analyst;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO better_analyst;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON TABLES TO better_analyst;

Repeat the GRANT statements for every schema you want to analyze. Do not use the admin user: queries run with whatever privileges the user has.

2. Allow Network Access

Better Analyst connects from these addresses:

  • 74.220.50.0/24
  • 74.220.58.0/24
  1. Turn on Publicly accessible for the cluster (Actions > Modify publicly accessible setting) or the Serverless workgroup (Network and security).
  2. In the VPC security group attached to the cluster or workgroup, add an inbound rule for TCP on the Redshift port (5439) from the addresses above.

Clusters that are reachable only inside a private VPC cannot be connected yet.

3. Connect in Better Analyst

  1. Go to Data > Databases and warehouses > Amazon Redshift
  2. Paste the endpoint and enter the username, password, and database
  3. Choose Read only (default) or Read and write if you want Data Flows to write tables into Redshift
  4. Click Connect Redshift

How Queries Run

  • Every query is a single read-only SELECT, run inside a read-only transaction and checked before it reaches Redshift.
  • Better Analyst writes Redshift SQL: DATEADD, DATEDIFF, DATE_TRUNC, LISTAGG, GETDATE(), and APPROXIMATE COUNT(DISTINCT ...) are all used where they help.
  • Large results are exported in the background and attached to the chat as a file.

Example Questions

  • "Total revenue by region last quarter"
  • "Weekly active customers for the last 6 months"
  • "Top 20 products by margin this year"
  • "Which tables in the analytics schema were updated today?"

Dashboards, Alerts and Data Flows

  • Dashboards built from Redshift data refresh on a schedule, using the same saved query.
  • Alerts watch Redshift-backed numbers through Data Flows.
  • Data Flows can read from Redshift and, with Read and write access, write tables into an approved Redshift schema.

Access Control

From Manage Data Access you can:

  • Limit which tables and columns the AI can see
  • Add row rules, including per-member rules that filter rows by a team member's attributes
  • Preview what a member sees with View as member

Troubleshooting

ProblemFix
Connection timed outMake the cluster publicly accessible and allow the IP addresses above in its security group.
Password authentication failedCheck the username and password; Redshift passwords are case-sensitive.
Permission denied for relationGrant USAGE on the schema and SELECT on the table to the Better Analyst user.
Database does not existUse the database name from the endpoint, often dev.