> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.withampersand.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# BigQuery destinations

For more information on destinations, see the [Destinations](/destinations) page.

When new data is read from a SaaS instance via a [Read Action](/read-actions) or [Subscribe Action](/subscribe-actions), Ampersand inserts the payload as rows into your Google BigQuery table.

## Prerequisites

Before setting up a BigQuery destination, ensure that you have:

* A Google Cloud project with BigQuery enabled
* A dataset and table to insert into (see [Data format and table setup](#data-format-and-table-setup))
* A service account with the `BigQuery Data Editor` role (or `bigquery.tables.updateData` permission) on that dataset, and a JSON key for it

## Data format and table setup

Ampersand delivers each read or subscribe message as a JSON object. The full payload schema is defined in [webhook.yaml](https://github.com/amp-labs/openapi/blob/main/webhook/webhook.yaml).

The BigQuery destination writes each message into two columns: `id` (a generated identifier) and `payload` (the full message JSON, written as a string). Create the table with exactly these columns:

```sql theme={null}
CREATE TABLE `my-project.my_dataset.my_table` (
  id STRING,
  payload STRING
);
```

## Create a BigQuery destination

Go to the [Destinations page](https://dashboard.withampersand.com/projects/_/destinations) in the Ampersand Dashboard and create a new BigQuery destination.

You'll need to provide:

| Field                           | Type    | Required | Example             | Description                                                  |
| ------------------------------- | ------- | -------- | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Destination name**            | string  | Yes      | `ampersandBigQuery` | Alias to reference in your `amp.yaml` file                   |
| **Project ID**                  | string  | Yes      | `my-gcp-project`    | Google Cloud project ID                                      |
| **Dataset ID**                  | string  | Yes      | `analytics`         | BigQuery dataset ID                                          |
| **Table ID**                    | string  | Yes      | `ampersand_events`  | BigQuery table ID                                            |
| **Service account credentials** | string  | Yes      |                     | Service account key JSON with write access to the table      |
| **Batch size**                  | integer | No       | `1000`              | Rows to buffer before flushing a batch (defaults to 1000)    |
| **Max wait (seconds)**          | integer | No       | `30`                | Max seconds to wait before flushing a batch (defaults to 30) |

## Refer to the destination in your integration

After creating your BigQuery destination, reference it in your `amp.yaml` file:

```yaml theme={null}
specVersion: 1.0.0
integrations:
  - name: salesforceToBigQuery
    displayName: Salesforce to BigQuery
    provider: salesforce
    read:
      objects:
        - objectName: account
          destination: ampersandBigQuery
        - objectName: contact
          destination: ampersandBigQuery
```