The INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_USER view contains real-time
metadata about BigQuery sessions created by the current user in
the current project.
Required permissions
To query the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_USER view, you need
the bigquery.jobs.list Identity and Access Management (IAM) permission for the project.
Each of the following predefined IAM roles includes the
required permission:
When you query the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_* views, the query results
contain one row for each BigQuery session.
The INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_* view has the following schema:
Column name
Data type
Value
creation_time
TIMESTAMP
(Partitioning column) Creation time of this session.
Partitioning is based on the UTC time of this timestamp.
expiration_time
TIMESTAMP
(Partitioning column) Expiration time of this session.
Partitioning is based on the UTC time of this timestamp.
is_active
BOOL
Is the session is still active? TRUE if yes, otherwise
FALSE.
last_modified_time
TIMESTAMP
(Partitioning column) Time when the session was last modified.
Partitioning is based on the UTC time of this timestamp.
project_id
STRING
(Clustering column) ID of the project.
project_number
INTEGER
Number of the project.
session_id
STRING
ID of the session. For example, bquxsession_1234.
user_email
STRING
(Clustering column) Email address or service account of
the user who ran the session.
Data retention
This view contains currently running sessions and the history of sessions
completed in the past 180 days.
Scope and syntax
Queries against this view must include a region qualifier.
If you do not specify a regional qualifier, metadata is retrieved from all
regions. The following table explains the region scope for this view:
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-25 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ccode\u003eINFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_USER\u003c/code\u003e view provides real-time metadata about BigQuery sessions created by the current user within the current project.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo access this view, users need the \u003ccode\u003ebigquery.jobs.list\u003c/code\u003e IAM permission, which is included in the Project Viewer and BigQuery User roles.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis view's data is partitioned by \u003ccode\u003ecreation_time\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eexpiration_time\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003elast_modified_time\u003c/code\u003e columns, and clustered by \u003ccode\u003eproject_id\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003euser_email\u003c/code\u003e, displaying information for each session in a row.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe view retains information on active sessions and historical data for sessions completed within the last 180 days.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eQueries on this view require a region qualifier and must be executed from the same region specified in the query, and the view name is case-sensitive.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# SESSIONS_BY_USER view\n=====================\n\nThe `INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_USER` view contains real-time\nmetadata about BigQuery sessions created by the current user in\nthe current project.\n\nRequired permissions\n--------------------\n\nTo query the `INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_USER` view, you need\nthe `bigquery.jobs.list` Identity and Access Management (IAM) permission for the project.\nEach of the following predefined IAM roles includes the\nrequired permission:\n\n- Project Viewer\n- BigQuery User\n\nFor more information about BigQuery permissions, see\n[Access control with IAM](/bigquery/docs/access-control).\n\nSchema\n------\n\nWhen you query the `INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_*` views, the query results\ncontain one row for each BigQuery session.\n\nThe `INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_*` view has the following schema:\n| **Note:** The underlying data is partitioned by the `creation_time` column and clustered by `project_id` and `user_email`.\n\nData retention\n--------------\n\nThis view contains currently running sessions and the history of sessions\ncompleted in the past 180 days.\n\nScope and syntax\n----------------\n\nQueries against this view must include a [region qualifier](/bigquery/docs/information-schema-intro#syntax).\nIf you do not specify a regional qualifier, metadata is retrieved from all\nregions. The following table explains the region scope for this view:\n\nReplace the following:\n\n- Optional: \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003ePROJECT_ID\u003c/var\u003e: the ID of your Google Cloud project. If not specified, the default project is used.\n- \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eREGION\u003c/var\u003e: any [dataset region name](/bigquery/docs/locations). For example, ```region-us```.\n\n \u003cbr /\u003e\n\n \u003cbr /\u003e\n\n | **Note:** You must use [a region qualifier](/bigquery/docs/information-schema-intro#region_qualifier) to query `INFORMATION_SCHEMA` views. The location of the query execution must match the region of the `INFORMATION_SCHEMA` view.\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\nExample\n-------\n\nTo run the query against a project other than your default project, add the\nproject ID in the following format: \n\n```bash\n`PROJECT_ID`.`region-REGION_NAME`.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_USER\n```\nFor example, ```myproject`.`region-us`.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_USER``.\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\nThe following example lists sessions that were created by the current user: \n\n```googlesql\nSELECT\n session_id,\n creation_time\nFROM\n `region-us`.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SESSIONS_BY_USER\nWHERE\n creation_time \u003e= TIMESTAMP_SUB(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(), INTERVAL 1 DAY)\nORDER BY\n creation_time DESC;\n```\n| **Note:** `INFORMATION_SCHEMA` view names are case-sensitive.\n\nThe results should look like the following: \n\n```\n+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+\n| session_id | creation_time |\n+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+\n| CgwKCmZhbGl1LXRlc3QQARokMGQ5YWWYzZmE0YjhkMDBm | 2021-06-01 08:04:26 |\n| CgwKCmZhbGl1LXRlc3QQARokMDAzYjI0OWQtZTczwZjA1NDc2 | 2021-05-31 22:43:02 |\n+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+\n```"]]
