Ingest data from Google Analytics 4

Learn how to ingest Google Analytics 4 data into Databricks using Lakeflow Connect and Google BigQuery.

Requirements

To create an ingestion pipeline, you must first meet the following requirements:
- Your workspace must be enabled for Unity Catalog.
- Serverless compute must be enabled for your workspace. See Serverless compute requirements.
- If you plan to create a new connection: You must have CREATE CONNECTION privileges on the metastore. See Manage privileges in Unity Catalog.
  
  If the connector supports UI-based pipeline authoring, an admin can create the connection and the pipeline at the same time by completing the steps on this page. However, if the users who create pipelines use API-based pipeline authoring or are non-admin users, an admin must first create the connection in Catalog Explorer. See Connect to managed ingestion sources.
- If you plan to use an existing connection: You must have USE CONNECTION privileges or ALL PRIVILEGES on the connection object.
- You must have USE CATALOG privileges on the target catalog.
- You must have USE SCHEMA and CREATE TABLE privileges on an existing schema or CREATE SCHEMA privileges on the target catalog.
To ingest from GA4 using BigQuery, see Set up Google Analytics 4 and Google BigQuery for Databricks ingestion.

Configure networking

When serverless egress control is enabled, and network access is restricted to specific destinations, you must define egress rules in your network policy. See Configure network policies.

Create an ingestion pipeline

Each ingested table is written to a streaming table.

Beta

You can filter rows during ingestion to improve performance and reduce data duplication. See Select rows to ingest.

Databricks UI
Databricks Asset Bundles
Databricks notebook

In the sidebar of the Databricks workspace, click Data Ingestion.
On the Add data page, under Databricks connectors, click Google Analytics 4.
On the Connection page of the ingestion wizard, select the connection that stores your Google Analytics 4 access credentials. If you have the CREATE CONNECTION privilege on the metastore, you can click Create connection to create a new connection with the authentication details in Set up Google Analytics 4 and Google BigQuery for Databricks ingestion.

The Databricks UI only supports OAuth for GA4 connections. However, you can use basic authentication instead by creating the connection using Databricks APIs. See Google Analytics Raw Data.
Click Next.
On the Ingestion setup page, enter a unique name for the pipeline.
Select a catalog and a schema to write event logs to. If you have USE CATALOG and CREATE SCHEMA privileges on the catalog, you can click Create schema in the drop-down menu to create a new schema.
Click Create pipeline and continue.
On the Source page, select the tables to ingest.
Click Save and continue.
On the Destination page, select a catalog and a schema to load data into. If you have USE CATALOG and CREATE SCHEMA privileges on the catalog, you can click Create schema in the drop-down menu to create a new schema.
Click Save and continue.
(Optional) On the Schedules and notifications page, click Create schedule. Set the frequency to refresh the destination tables.
(Optional) Click Add notification to set email notifications for pipeline operation success or failure, then click Save and run pipeline.

Use Declarative Automation Bundles to manage Google Analytics 4 pipelines as code. Bundles can contain YAML definitions of jobs and tasks, are managed using the Databricks CLI, and can be shared and run in different target workspaces (such as development, staging, and production). For more information, see What are Declarative Automation Bundles?.

Create a new bundle using the Databricks CLI:
Bash
```
databricks bundle init
```
Add two new resource files to the bundle:
- A pipeline definition file (for example, resources/ga4_pipeline.yml). See pipeline.ingestion_definition and Examples.
- A job definition file that controls the frequency of data ingestion (for example, resources/ga4_job.yml).
Deploy the pipeline using the Databricks CLI:
Bash
```
databricks bundle deploy
```

Examples

Use these examples to configure your pipeline.

Ingest a single source table

Databricks Asset Bundles
Databricks notebook

The following pipeline definition file ingests a single source table:

YAML
variables:
  dest_catalog:
    default: main
  dest_schema:
    default: ingest_destination_schema

# The main pipeline for ga4_dab
resources:
  pipelines:
    pipeline_ga4:
      name: ga4_pipeline
      catalog: ${var.dest_catalog}
      schema: ${var.dest_schema}
      ingestion_definition:
        connection_name: <ga4-connection>
        objects:
          # An array of objects to ingest from GA4. This example ingests the events table from the analytics_XXXXXXXXX dataset.
          - table:
              source_schema: analytics_XXXXXXXXX
              source_table: events
              destination_catalog: ${var.dest_catalog}
              destination_schema: ${var.dest_schema}

The following pipeline specification ingests a single source table:

Python
pipeline_spec = """
{
  "name": "<pipeline-name>",
  "ingestion_definition": {
    "connection_name": "<ga4-connection>",
    "objects": [
      {
        "table": {
          "source_schema": "analytics_XXXXXXXXX",
          "source_table": "events",
          "destination_catalog": "main",
          "destination_schema": "ingest_destination_schema"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
"""
create_pipeline(pipeline_spec)

Ingest multiple source tables

Databricks Asset Bundles
Databricks notebook

The following pipeline definition file ingests multiple source tables:

YAML
variables:
  dest_catalog:
    default: main
  dest_schema:
    default: ingest_destination_schema

# The main pipeline for ga4_dab
resources:
  pipelines:
    pipeline_ga4:
      name: ga4_pipeline
      catalog: ${var.dest_catalog}
      schema: ${var.dest_schema}
      ingestion_definition:
        connection_name: <ga4-connection>
        objects:
          # An array of objects to ingest from GA4. This example ingests the events and events_intraday tables.
          - table:
              source_schema: analytics_XXXXXXXXX
              source_table: events
              destination_catalog: ${var.dest_catalog}
              destination_schema: ${var.dest_schema}
          - table:
              source_schema: analytics_XXXXXXXXX
              source_table: events_intraday
              destination_catalog: ${var.dest_catalog}
              destination_schema: ${var.dest_schema}

The following pipeline specification ingests multiple source tables:

Python
pipeline_spec = """
{
  "name": "<pipeline-name>",
  "ingestion_definition": {
    "connection_name": "<ga4-connection>",
    "objects": [
      {
        "table": {
          "source_schema": "analytics_XXXXXXXXX",
          "source_table": "events",
          "destination_catalog": "main",
          "destination_schema": "ingest_destination_schema"
        }
      },
      {
        "table": {
          "source_schema": "analytics_XXXXXXXXX",
          "source_table": "events_intraday",
          "destination_catalog": "main",
          "destination_schema": "ingest_destination_schema"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
"""
create_pipeline(pipeline_spec)

Bundle job definition file

The following is an example job definition file to use with Declarative Automation Bundles. The job runs every day, exactly one day from the last run.

YAML
resources:
  jobs:
    ga4_dab_job:
      name: ga4_dab_job

      trigger:
        periodic:
          interval: 1
          unit: DAYS

      email_notifications:
        on_failure:
          - <email-address>

      tasks:
        - task_key: refresh_pipeline
          pipeline_task:
            pipeline_id: ${resources.pipelines.pipeline_ga4.id}

Common patterns

For advanced pipeline configurations, see Common patterns for managed ingestion pipelines.

Next steps

Start, schedule, and set alerts on your pipeline. See Common pipeline maintenance tasks.

Requirements​

Configure networking​

Create an ingestion pipeline​

Examples​

Ingest a single source table​

Ingest multiple source tables​

Bundle job definition file​

Common patterns​

Next steps​

Additional resources​