R: ODBC encoding error with Snowflake DBI connections - `wstring_convert::to_bytes`

Description

When attempting to use a Snowflake DBI connection directly with QueryChat$new(), I encounter an ODBC character encoding error.

Environment:

• querychat: v0.2.0.9000 (dev version via pak::pak("posit-dev/querychat/pkg-r"))
• R version: 4.5
• Environment: Posit Team Snowflake Native App, Positron within Workbench
• Snowflake ODBC driver

Reproducible Example:

  library(querychat)
  library(DBI)
  library(odbc)

  # Initialize Snowflake connection
  con <- DBI::dbConnect(
    odbc::snowflake(),
    account = Sys.getenv("SNOWFLAKE_ACCOUNT"),
    warehouse = "DEFAULT_WH",
    database = "SNOWFLAKE_PUBLIC_DATA_FREE",
    schema = "PUBLIC_DATA_FREE"
  )

  # Verify connection works
  DBI::dbListTables(con)  # This works fine

  # Attempt to create QueryChat with the connection
  qc <- QueryChat$new(con, "HOME_MORTGAGE_DISCLOSURE_ATTRIBUTES")

Error:
Error: wstring_convert::to_bytes

Additional details:

Warning: Error in : wstring_convert::to_bytes
  56: <Anonymous>
  55: stop
  54: connection_sql_tables
  53: .local
  52: odbcConnectionTables
  50: DBI::dbExistsTable
  48: initialize
  47: DBISource$new
  46: normalize_data_source
  45: initialize
  44: QueryChat$new

Questions:

• Is there a known issue with Snowflake ODBC drivers and QueryChat (R)?
• Are there any configuration options or workarounds to enable direct Snowflake connection support?

Start by reproducing the Snowflake connection failure with QueryChat$new and trace the reported path through normalize_data_source, DBISource$new, connection_sql_tables, odbcConnectionTables, and DBI::dbExistsTable. Compare the working dbListTables call with the failing initialization and determine whether direct Snowflake connections need a supported configuration or compatibility change; done means the behavior or workaround is documented and verified.