DuckDB CLI Skill

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for using DuckDB's command-line interface, a fast, in-process SQL OLAP database management system designed for analytical workloads.

About DuckDB CLI

DuckDB CLI is a single, dependency-free executable that provides a full-featured SQL interface for data analysis. It excels at analytical queries on structured data formats (CSV, Parquet, JSON) and can handle datasets ranging from in-memory operations to out-of-core processing of files larger than available RAM.

Key Capabilities

• SQL Analytics: Full SQL support with PostgreSQL-compatible syntax
• File Format Support: Native reading of CSV, Parquet, JSON, Excel, and more
• In-Memory & Persistent: Work with temporary in-memory databases or persistent files
• Zero-Copy Integration: Direct querying of files without importing
• Advanced Features: Window functions, CTEs, PIVOT/UNPIVOT, aggregations
• Data Import/Export: Seamless conversion between formats
• Performance: Columnar storage, vectorized execution, and intelligent query optimization

Version Information

Current stable version: 1.4.1 (Ossivalis)

Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux as a single executable with no dependencies.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when users:

• Need to query CSV, Parquet, JSON, or Excel files using SQL
• Want to perform data analysis at the command line
• Need to transform, aggregate, or join datasets
• Want to convert between data formats (CSV to Parquet, JSON to CSV, etc.)
• Ask about database operations, aggregations, or analytics
• Need to work with both small and large datasets efficiently
• Want to create persistent databases for analytical workloads
• Need to execute SQL queries from scripts or command line

Installation

Download and Setup

1. Download DuckDB CLI from the installation page under the CLI tab
2. Available as pre-built binaries for:
   • Windows (x64, ARM64)
   • macOS (x64, ARM64/M1)
   • Linux (x64, ARM64)
3. Extract the executable (single file, no installation needed)
4. Run from terminal: duckdb (or ./duckdb in PowerShell/POSIX shells)

Package Managers

# Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
brew install duckdb

# Chocolatey (Windows)
choco install duckdb

# Scoop (Windows)
scoop install duckdb

Getting Started

Launching DuckDB

In-Memory Database (Temporary):

duckdb

Creates a temporary database that won't persist after closing. Ideal for quick analysis.

Persistent Database:

duckdb my_database.duckdb

Creates or opens a database file. All changes are automatically saved.

Opening Existing Database:

duckdb path/to/existing.duckdb

Exiting DuckDB

Press Ctrl+D, Ctrl+C, or type:

.exit

Persistent databases automatically checkpoint (save) when closing.

SQL Query Execution

Interactive SQL

Enter SQL statements followed by semicolons:

SELECT 42 AS answer;

Multi-line Statements:

SELECT
    column1,
    column2
FROM my_table
WHERE condition = true;

Non-Interactive Execution

Execute SQL directly from command line:

duckdb :memory: "SELECT 42 AS answer"

Pipe SQL from file:

duckdb < commands.sql

Execute and output results:

duckdb my_db.duckdb "SELECT * FROM table" > results.csv

Reading Data Files

DuckDB can query files directly without importing:

CSV Files

-- Read CSV file
SELECT * FROM read_csv('data.csv');

-- With options
SELECT * FROM read_csv('data.csv',
    header = true,
    delimiter = ',',
    auto_detect = true
);

-- Create table from CSV
CREATE TABLE my_table AS
SELECT * FROM read_csv('data.csv');

Parquet Files

-- Read Parquet file
SELECT * FROM read_parquet('data.parquet');

-- Read multiple Parquet files
SELECT * FROM read_parquet('data/*.parquet');

-- Hive-partitioned Parquet
SELECT * FROM read_parquet('data/year=*/month=*/*.parquet');

JSON Files

-- Read JSON file
SELECT * FROM read_json('data.json');

-- NDJSON (newline-delimited JSON)
SELECT * FROM read_json('data.ndjson', format='newline_delimited');

Excel Files

-- Read Excel file
SELECT * FROM read_excel('data.xlsx');

-- Specific sheet
SELECT * FROM read_excel('data.xlsx', sheet='Sheet2');

Reading from stdin

cat data.csv | duckdb -c "SELECT * FROM read_csv('/dev/stdin')"

Common SQL Operations

Basic Queries

-- Select specific columns
SELECT name, age, city FROM users;

-- Filter rows
SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > 25;

-- Sort results
SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY age DESC;

-- Limit results
SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 10;

Aggregations

-- Count rows
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM users;

-- Group by with aggregation
SELECT city, COUNT(*) as count, AVG(age) as avg_age
FROM users
GROUP BY city;

-- DuckDB-friendly GROUP BY ALL
SELECT city, COUNT(*) as count
FROM users
GROUP BY ALL;

Joins

-- Inner join
SELECT u.name, o.order_id
FROM users u
JOIN orders o ON u.user_id = o.user_id;

-- Left join
SELECT u.name, o.order_id
FROM users u
LEFT JOIN orders o ON u.user_id = o.user_id;

-- Multiple joins
SELECT u.name, o.order_id, p.product_name
FROM users u
LEFT JOIN orders o ON u.user_id = o.user_id
LEFT JOIN products p ON o.product_id = p.product_id;

Window Functions

-- Row number
SELECT name, age,
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY age) as rank
FROM users;

-- Partition by
SELECT name, department, salary,
    AVG(salary) OVER (PARTITION BY department) as dept_avg
FROM employees;

-- Quantiles with NTILE
SELECT name, score,
    NTILE(4) OVER (ORDER BY score) as quartile
FROM students;

Pivoting

-- UNPIVOT (wide to long)
UNPIVOT sales
ON jan, feb, mar
INTO
    NAME month
    VALUE amount;

-- PIVOT (long to wide)
PIVOT sales
ON month
USING SUM(amount);

Common Table Expressions (CTEs)

WITH high_earners AS (
    SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > 100000
),
departments AS (
    SELECT dept_id, AVG(salary) as avg_salary
    FROM employees
    GROUP BY dept_id
)
SELECT h.name, d.avg_salary
FROM high_earners h
JOIN departments d ON h.dept_id = d.dept_id;

Data Export

Export to CSV

COPY (SELECT * FROM my_table) TO 'output.csv' (HEADER, DELIMITER ',');

Export to Parquet

COPY (SELECT * FROM my_table) TO 'output.parquet' (FORMAT PARQUET);

Export to JSON

COPY (SELECT * FROM my_table) TO 'output.json';

Dot Commands

Dot commands provide CLI-specific functionality and start with a period (.):

Essential Dot Commands

.help                    -- Show all available dot commands
.tables                  -- List all tables in database
.schema [table_name]     -- Show table schema
.open path/to/db.duckdb  -- Switch to different database
.read file.sql           -- Execute SQL from file
.exit                    -- Exit DuckDB

Output Formatting

.mode duckbox           -- Default table format
.mode csv               -- CSV output
.mode json              -- JSON output
.mode markdown          -- Markdown tables
.mode latex             -- LaTeX tables
.mode insert            -- SQL INSERT statements
.mode line              -- One value per line

Example:

.mode csv
SELECT * FROM users;
.mode duckbox

Output Redirection

-- Redirect all output to file
.output results.txt
SELECT * FROM users;
.output stdout         -- Reset to terminal

-- Redirect next query only
.once results.csv
SELECT * FROM users;

Custom Prompts

.prompt 'duckdb> '
.prompt '> '

Configuration

Startup Configuration

Create ~/.duckdbrc for automatic configuration on startup:

.mode duckbox
.prompt 'duck> '

Skip default config:

duckdb -init /dev/null

Use custom config:

duckdb -init my_config.sql

Session Settings

-- Enable/disable progress bar
SET enable_progress_bar = true;

-- Set memory limit
SET memory_limit = '4GB';

-- Set threads
SET threads = 4;

-- Enable external access (for environment variables)
SET enable_external_access = true;

Advanced Features

Environment Variables

-- Get environment variable
SELECT getenv('HOME') AS home;
SELECT getenv('USER') AS username;

Note: Requires enable_external_access = true (default).

Prepared Statements

PREPARE my_query AS
SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > $1;

EXECUTE my_query(25);

Query Explanation

-- Show query plan
EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > 25;

-- Detailed analysis
EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > 25;

Sampling

-- Random sample (1%)
SELECT * FROM large_table USING SAMPLE 1%;

-- Sample with seed (reproducible)
SELECT * FROM large_table USING SAMPLE 1000 ROWS (SEED 42);

Creating Views

CREATE VIEW adult_users AS
SELECT * FROM users WHERE age >= 18;

SELECT * FROM adult_users;

DuckDB-Specific SQL Enhancements

Friendly Syntax Features

FROM-first syntax:

FROM users
SELECT name, age
WHERE age > 25;

GROUP BY ALL:

SELECT city, department, COUNT(*)
FROM employees
GROUP BY ALL;

ORDER BY ALL:

SELECT name, age, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY ALL;

List and Struct Types

-- Create list column
SELECT [1, 2, 3] AS my_list;

-- Create struct column
SELECT {'name': 'John', 'age': 30} AS person;

-- Unnest list
SELECT UNNEST([1, 2, 3]) AS value;

Working with Large Datasets

Out-of-Core Processing

DuckDB can process datasets larger than RAM by using disk-backed databases:

duckdb large_db.duckdb

-- Create table from large CSV
CREATE TABLE large_table AS
SELECT * FROM read_csv('very_large_file.csv');

-- Query with partitioning benefits
SELECT * FROM read_parquet('data/year=*/month=*/*.parquet')
WHERE year = 2024 AND month = 1;

Performance Tips

1. Use Parquet for large datasets: More efficient than CSV
2. Leverage partitioning: Hive-partitioned files reduce I/O
3. Filter early: DuckDB pushes filters down to file reading
4. Use sampling for exploration: Test queries on samples first
5. Select only needed columns: Columnar storage makes this very efficient

Practical Examples

Data Cleaning

-- Remove duplicates
CREATE TABLE clean_users AS
SELECT DISTINCT * FROM users;

-- Handle missing values
SELECT
    COALESCE(name, 'Unknown') as name,
    COALESCE(age, 0) as age
FROM users;

-- String cleaning
SELECT
    TRIM(name) as name,
    LOWER(email) as email,
    REGEXP_REPLACE(phone, '[^0-9]', '') as phone
FROM contacts;

Data Transformation

-- Create derived columns
SELECT
    name,
    age,
    CASE
        WHEN age < 18 THEN 'Minor'
        WHEN age < 65 THEN 'Adult'
        ELSE 'Senior'
    END as age_group
FROM users;

-- Date operations
SELECT
    order_date,
    EXTRACT(YEAR FROM order_date) as year,
    EXTRACT(MONTH FROM order_date) as month,
    DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) as month_start
FROM orders;

Multi-File Analysis

-- Combine multiple CSV files
SELECT * FROM read_csv('sales_*.csv');

-- Join files from different formats
SELECT
    u.name,
    o.order_id,
    o.amount
FROM read_csv('users.csv') u
JOIN read_parquet('orders.parquet') o
    ON u.user_id = o.user_id;

Data Quality Checks

-- Check for duplicates
SELECT user_id, COUNT(*)
FROM users
GROUP BY user_id
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

-- Find missing values
SELECT
    COUNT(*) as total_rows,
    COUNT(name) as name_count,
    COUNT(*) - COUNT(name) as name_missing,
    COUNT(email) as email_count,
    COUNT(*) - COUNT(email) as email_missing
FROM users;

-- Value distribution
SELECT age, COUNT(*) as frequency
FROM users
GROUP BY age
ORDER BY frequency DESC;

Integration with Python and R

While this skill focuses on the CLI, DuckDB integrates seamlessly with programming languages:

Python:

import duckdb
con = duckdb.connect('my_db.duckdb')
result = con.execute("SELECT * FROM users").df()  # Returns pandas DataFrame

R:

library(DBI)
con <- dbConnect(duckdb::duckdb(), "my_db.duckdb")
result <- dbGetQuery(con, "SELECT * FROM users")

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Table does not exist" errors:

• Verify file path is correct
• Use absolute paths or ensure working directory is correct
• Check file format matches read function (read_csv vs read_parquet)

Memory errors:

• Use persistent database instead of :memory:
• Reduce dataset size with WHERE clauses or sampling
• Set memory limit: SET memory_limit = '2GB';

Performance issues:

• Use EXPLAIN to check query plan
• Ensure proper indexes on join columns
• Use appropriate file formats (Parquet > CSV for large data)
• Consider partitioning large files

Character encoding issues:

• Specify encoding in read_csv: encoding='UTF-8'
• Use normalize_names=true for column name cleanup

Best Practices

1. Start with exploration: Use LIMIT and sampling for initial analysis
2. Use appropriate formats: Parquet for large datasets, CSV for small/human-readable
3. Leverage partitioning: Organize large datasets by date, category, etc.
4. Test queries incrementally: Build complex queries step-by-step
5. Save intermediate results: Create tables/views for multi-step analysis
6. Use CTEs for readability: Break complex queries into named steps
7. Configure .duckdbrc: Set preferred defaults for consistent experience
8. Check query plans: Use EXPLAIN for performance-critical queries
9. Version control SQL: Save reusable queries in .sql files
10. Document complex queries: Add comments with -- or /* */

Resources and References

Official Documentation

• DuckDB Documentation
• CLI Reference
• SQL Introduction
• Data Import

Additional Learning

• Grant McDermott's DuckDB Guide
• DuckDB Blog for latest features and use cases
• Community examples on GitHub

Quick Reference Card

-- Launch CLI
duckdb                           # In-memory
duckdb mydb.duckdb              # Persistent

-- Read files
SELECT * FROM read_csv('file.csv');
SELECT * FROM read_parquet('file.parquet');
SELECT * FROM read_json('file.json');

-- Export data
COPY (...) TO 'output.csv' (HEADER);
COPY (...) TO 'output.parquet' (FORMAT PARQUET);

-- Dot commands
.help                           # Show help
.tables                         # List tables
.schema table_name              # Show schema
.mode csv                       # CSV output
.output file.txt                # Redirect output
.read script.sql                # Run SQL file
.exit                           # Quit

-- Useful settings
SET threads = 4;
SET memory_limit = '4GB';
SET enable_progress_bar = true;

-- Query optimization
EXPLAIN query;                  # Show plan
USING SAMPLE 1%;               # Sample data
GROUP BY ALL;                   # Auto-group