DuckDB: Up and Running

Chapter 9. Using DuckDB in the Cloud with MotherDuck

So far, we’ve learned how to use DuckDB installed on your machine to manipulate your data, whether that data is stored locally or on a remote server. Using DuckDB on your machine involves installing DuckDB and setting up the development environment, such as with Anaconda. But what if you want a fast way to analyze your data without the hassle of setting up your machine? Enter MotherDuck.

MotherDuck is a serverless cloud analytics platform built on DuckDB. It enhances DuckDB by providing cloud-based manageability, scalability, and advanced analytics capabilities. In essence, you can perform all the operations you’ve learned in this book using MotherDuck, without needing to set up your own machine. Exciting, isn’t it?

In this chapter, I’ll guide you through getting started with MotherDuck and using it for analytical tasks. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:

• Upload and create databases

• Share databases with others

• Attach shared databases

• Query databases

• Use AI to help write your SDL statements

• Connect your local DuckDB databases with MotherDuck

• Perform hybrid queries to work with local and remote DuckDB databases

We’ll start with some basics about MotherDuck.

Introduction to MotherDuck

For many data analytics users, complex data infrastructure isn’t always necessary. What they often need is a serverless data warehouse that can easily host and share their data. This is where MotherDuck comes in. With MotherDuck, you can effortlessly ...