# Azure Blob Storage

Query CSV, Parquet, and JSON files stored in Azure Blob containers

- Category: Files & storage
- Runs in: the Phloem cloud

Turns CSV, JSON and Parquet files in your Azure storage containers into tables you and Hamming can query, listed in Trace.

## What Phloem reads
- CSV, JSON and Parquet files, including gzipped `.csv.gz` and `.json.gz`, in the containers you pick
- Files are grouped into tables by path and format, with partition folders detected and column names and types sampled
- The tables you keep, with their columns, listed in Trace for Hamming and SQL autocomplete

Files are read in place. Phloem never writes to your storage account.

## What you need
- A storage account, and one of: its connection string, its account name and key, or a SAS token
- A credential that can list the account's containers and read their blobs

## Connect
1. In the console, open **Connectors**, choose **Add connector**, then **Azure Blob Storage**.
2. On **Azure Credentials**, choose an **Authentication Method**:
   - **Connection String** — paste it into **Connection String** (Azure Portal › Storage Account › Access Keys).
   - **Account Name & Key** — enter **Storage Account Name** and **Account Key**.
   - **SAS Token** — enter **Storage Account Name** and **SAS Token**, including the leading `?`.
3. On **Testing Credentials**, Phloem lists the account's containers.
4. On **Select Containers**, pick the containers to connect.
5. On **Discovered Tables**, review the proposed tables. Each is a **File Pattern** (e.g. `raw/events/**/*.parquet`) matching files with the same layout. Edit a table's **Table Name**, **File Pattern** or **Description**, or turn it off.
6. On **Save Connection**, name the connector and save it.

## Notes
- Discovery samples each folder instead of listing every file. A table it is unsure of starts turned off, so check the patterns before saving.
- Files and folders starting with `_` or `.`, and `tmp`, `temp` and `log` folders, are skipped.

## Connection fields

| Field | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authentication Method | One of | Yes | Choose how to authenticate with Azure |
| Connection String | Secret | No | Full connection string from Azure Portal > Storage Account > Access Keys |
| Storage Account Name | Text | No |  |
| Account Key | Secret | No |  |
| Storage Account Name | Text | No |  |
| SAS Token | Secret | No | Shared Access Signature token (include the leading '?') |
| Path Prefix Filter (Optional) | Text | No | Only scan files under this prefix path |
| File Formats | Any of | No | Select file formats to include. You can add custom extensions. |
| Scan Subfolders | On / off | No | Recursively scan subfolders for files |