DuckDB

DuckDB is an analytical SQL database management system that can be deployed anywhere from edge devices to servers with hundreds of cores. It offers a friendly, PostgreSQL-inspired query language, supports extensions, provides native clients for major programming languages, and reads and writes formats such as CSV, JSON, Parquet, and Iceberg. DuckDB and related projects are MIT-licensed and governed by the independent DuckDB Foundation. The broader Duck Stack includes the DuckDB database, the Quack client-server protocol, DuckLake lakehouse format, and first-class Apache Iceberg support.

Mark Raasveldt and Hannes Mühleisen began developing DuckDB in 2018 while working as database researchers at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam. Their work grew from database systems research, later documented in papers on DuckDB's design and architecture, including its embedded analytical model. DuckDB was open source from day one. In 2019, Mark and Hannes announced DuckDB v0.1 at the SIGMOD conference in Amsterdam. DuckDB could run as a single binary or inside Python, R, or another host process, giving users an analytical SQL engine without requiring them to deploy and maintain a separate database server. On July 14, 2021, Mark and Hannes announced DuckDB Labs as a CWI spin-off. The company brought the core engineering team together and created a commercial route for organizations that needed support or development work. The independent DuckDB Foundation was incorporated later that year. It holds most of DuckDB's intellectual property and safeguards the project's continuity under the permissive MIT license.

An analytical SQL database that can run in-process; simple, fast, and portable.

• DuckDB

  An analytical SQL database that can run in-process; simple, fast, and portable.

• Quack

  The client-server protocol for DuckDB; both client and server are full-fledged DuckDB instances.

• DuckLake

  A lakehouse format built on SQL, using object storage for data and a SQL database as a catalog.

• Iceberg

  DuckDB has first-class Apache Iceberg support, allowing read and write of Iceberg tables directly from DuckDB.

• 2026.08.26

  Reported2026.08.27

  AWS signs definitive agreement to acquire DuckLabs[4]AWS签署最终协议收购DuckLabsinfoworld.com

  AWS said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire DuckLabs, the Amsterdam-based company behind the DuckDB ecosystem, with the approximately 30-member DuckLabs team joining AWS once the acquisition closes while the DuckDB open-source project remains under the independent DuckDB Foundation and available under the MIT license. Financial terms and expected closing date were not disclosed.

Read more

1. 1An analytical SQL database management system – DuckDBduckdb.org
2. 2History – DuckDBduckdb.org
3. 3AWS Extension – DuckDBduckdb.org
4. 4AWS签署最终协议收购DuckLabsinfoworld.com