BigQuery

NinjaCat supports connecting to Google BigQuery as a custom dataset source. This allows you to query data stored in your BigQuery project and surface it in NinjaCat reports and Data Cloud.

This connector signs in with a Google account (OAuth). NinjaCat does not accept a vendor's service-account JSON key file — there is no field for it in the connector setup form.

Prerequisites

Before setting up a BigQuery connection, ensure you have:

• A Google account you can sign into.
• That account must be granted, on the Google Cloud project that holds the data:
  • BigQuery Job User
  • BigQuery Data Viewer
• If the data lives in a project you don't own (e.g. data provided by a vendor or partner), the project owner has to grant those roles to your Google account first — this can't be done from within NinjaCat.
• Each BigQuery connector is tied to a single signed-in Google account. If you need to connect a different project owned by a different party, create a new connector rather than reusing one built for another project.

Setup Steps

1. Go to Settings-> Data Sources -> Add Network -> Search for Big Query and authenticate with Google
2. Go to Data Cloud → Connectors for the agency.
3. Click New Connector → BigQuery. -> Give the Connector a name and associate the Credential you setup in step 1
4. Go to Add Dataset
5. Enter Dataset Name, Project ID, SQL Query
6. Optional: set Dataset Location if your dataset isn't in the US multi-region.
7. Save.

Connection Fields

Dataset Location Field

What It Does

The Dataset Location field is a free-text input field. Enter the region identifier that matches the location of your BigQuery dataset — for example:

• US (US multi-region, the default if left blank)
• EU (Europe multi-region)
• us-central1
• us-east4

When to Use It

Set the Dataset Location field if your BigQuery dataset is stored outside the US multi-region (i.e., any region other than US). If you have previously seen errors like:

Not found: Job <project>:<job_id> was not found in location US

this field resolves those errors by telling NinjaCat which region to route queries to.

Existing connections are unaffected when the field is left blank. Leaving it blank preserves the previous default behavior (US multi-region).

How to Find Your Dataset's Location

1. Open the Google BigQuery console
2. Expand your project and select the dataset
3. Click Dataset info — the Data location field shows the region

Enter that value exactly (case-sensitive) in the Dataset Location field in NinjaCat.

On-Screen Connection Errors

Connection and region errors are now surfaced directly on screen as you set up or edit a dataset. If NinjaCat cannot connect to your BigQuery dataset, you will see an error message displayed as a notification.

Troubleshooting

Related Pages

• BigQuery Fields — Available dimensions and metrics for BigQuery datasets