Connect to the Redshift Spectrum API with Parabola

Learn how to connect Redshift Spectrum with Parabola via its API, along with practical use cases the connection allows for.
Request a demo
Ben Pollack
Last updated:
May 29, 2025

Connecting via API with with Redshift Spectrum enables organizations to automate their data lake query operations through Amazon's serverless query service. This powerful connection allows businesses to streamline their big data analytics workflows while maintaining cost efficiency and performance, all through a robust API that supports comprehensive data lake query automation.

How do I connect via API?

  1. Connect to the Redshift Spectrum API through Parabola by navigating to the API page and selecting Redshift Spectrum
  2. Authenticate using your AWS credentials and configure necessary IAM permissions
  3. Select the data endpoints you want to access (external tables, S3 data, query operations)
  4. Configure your flow in Parabola by adding transformation steps to process your analytics
  5. Set up automated triggers for query execution and monitoring

What is Redshift Spectrum?

Redshift Spectrum is Amazon's serverless query service that enables organizations to run SQL queries directly against data stored in Amazon S3 without loading it into Redshift tables. As an extension of Amazon Redshift, Spectrum allows organizations to analyze exabytes of unstructured data while maintaining the benefits of a managed service.

What does Redshift Spectrum do?

Redshift Spectrum provides a powerful query service that enables organizations to analyze data lake content efficiently without data movement. Through its API, businesses can automate sophisticated query workflows while maintaining cost control and performance optimization. The platform excels in handling diverse data formats, supporting everything from CSV and Parquet to ORC and Avro files stored in S3.

The API enables programmatic access to Spectrum's full feature set, including external table management, query execution, and resource control. Organizations can leverage this functionality to build automated analytics workflows, manage data lake queries, and coordinate complex processing operations while maintaining optimal performance and cost efficiency.

What can I do with the API connection?

Data Lake Query Automation

Through Connecting via API with with Redshift Spectrum, data teams can automate their data lake query workflows. The API enables automated query execution, result processing, and data transformation. This automation ensures efficient data access while optimizing resource usage.

Schema Management

Organizations can leverage the API to automate their external table operations. The system can handle schema definitions, manage partitioning schemes, and coordinate metadata updates. This automation helps maintain data organization while simplifying administration.

Cost Optimization

Finance teams can automate their cost monitoring through the API connection. The system can track query costs, analyze usage patterns, and optimize resource allocation. This automation ensures cost-effective operations while maintaining performance requirements.

Performance Monitoring

Operations teams can automate their query performance monitoring through the API. The system can analyze execution plans, track resource utilization, and identify optimization opportunities. This integration helps maintain efficient processing while reducing manual oversight.

Data Format Management

Data engineers can automate their format handling through the API. The system can manage different file formats, coordinate compression settings, and handle schema evolution. This automation streamlines data lake operations while maintaining flexibility.

Through this API connection, organizations can create sophisticated data lake query workflows that leverage Spectrum's serverless capabilities while eliminating manual operations and reducing complexity. The integration supports automated query management, seamless format handling, and comprehensive monitoring, enabling teams to focus on analysis rather than infrastructure management.

Parabola FAQ

What is Parabola?
+

Parabola is an AI-powered workflow builder that makes it easy to organize and transform messy data from anywhere—even PDFs, emails, and spreadsheets—so your team can finally tackle the projects that used to feel impossible.

What does Parabola help with?
+

With Parabola, you can automate any process across spreadsheets, emails, PDFs, & siloed systems. Whether it’s reconciling data across systems or generating the same report every week, Parabola gives teams the power to automate it—all without IT support.

What does Parabola integrate with?
+

Parabola integrates with virtually any system. In addition to 50+ native integrations like NetSuite & Shopify, Parabola offers an API & the ability to integrate via email. Connect to thousands of tools—and work with unstructured data like emails and PDFs.

What are common Parabola use cases?
+

The best Parabola use cases are recurring processes that involve complex logic and messy data coming from multiple data sources. In practice, this could look like auditing invoice PDFs, generating recurring reports, or alerting the team of discrepancies.

Who are some of Parabola’s customers?
+

Teams at Brooklinen, On Running, Flexport, Vuori, and hundreds more use Parabola to automate the work they thought would always be manual. Explore more on our customer stories page.

How do I get started with Parabola?
+

The best way to get started is to sign up for a free account at parabola.io/signup. Our customers range from individuals to massive enterprises—so whether you'd like to start self-serve or with a guided product tour from an expert, we'll help you find the right package for your team.