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Home/Questions/SQL/Explain Time Travel in Snowflake.

Explain Time Travel in Snowflake.

SQLeasy0.4 min read

Reviewed by Aditya Kumar · Last reviewed 2026-03-24

**Architectural Logic**: Time Travel enables historical query and recovery—retention affects cost. **Mechanism**: Query at point: `AT(OFFSET => -3600)` or `AT(TIMESTAMP => '...')`. Restore: `UNDROP TABLE`. Clone: `CREATE TABLE t_clone CLONE t AT(OFFSET => -86400)`....

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Frequency
Low
Asked at 1 company
Category
487
questions in SQL
Difficulty Split
130E|271M|86H
in this category
Total Bank
1,863
across 7 categories
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Key Concepts Tested
snowflake
Expert Answer
77 words

Architectural Logic: Time Travel enables historical query and recovery—retention affects cost. Mechanism: Query at point: AT(OFFSET => -3600) or AT(TIMESTAMP => '...'). Restore: UNDROP TABLE. Clone: CREATE TABLE t_clone CLONE t AT(OFFSET => -86400). Retention: 1 day default; up to 90 days for enterprise. Use: Debugging; recovery; historical analysis. Scalability: Retention period limits. Cost: Storage for historical data; longer retention = more cost. Best Practice: Use for accidental delete recovery; clone before major changes; document retention policy.

⚡
Pro Tip

Red Flag: Relying on Time Travel for backup—supplement with external backup. Pro-Move: Mention retention tiers; clone before risky operations; FAILSAFE for extended recovery; document policy per table.

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