datapond 0.1.2

Instantly connect to curated DuckDB databases built from public data

datapond

Public data, instantly queryable.

datapond gives you instant SQL access to curated DuckDB databases built from public data sources -- no downloads, no API keys, no setup.

Install

uv pip install datapond

Or with pip: pip install datapond

For faster downloads from Hugging Face:

uv pip install "datapond[download]"

Quick start

Browse available databases

import datapond

# See what's available
datapond.list()

# Get details about a specific database
datapond.info("eoir")

Connect and query

import datapond

con = datapond.connect("eoir")
con.sql("SHOW TABLES").show()
con.sql("SELECT * FROM cases LIMIT 10").show()

The connection is a standard duckdb.Connection -- use it however you normally use DuckDB, including with pandas and Polars.

df = con.sql("SELECT * FROM cases LIMIT 1000").df()  # pandas
pl = con.sql("SELECT * FROM cases LIMIT 1000").pl()   # polars

Remote vs local

Every database can be queried remotely in seconds with no download required, or downloaded locally for full speed.

# Remote -- streams over HTTP, no download needed
con = datapond.connect("eoir")
con.sql("SELECT * FROM proceedings LIMIT 5").show()

# Local -- download once, query at full disk speed
datapond.download("eoir")
con = datapond.connect("eoir", local=True)

Download for offline use

datapond.download("eoir")

# Later, connect locally
con = datapond.connect("eoir", local=True)

Update a local database

datapond.update("eoir")

Multi-database queries

Attach multiple databases at once and query across them:

con = datapond.connect(["eoir", "foia"])

# Tables are namespaced by database ID
con.sql("SELECT * FROM eoir.cases LIMIT 5").show()
con.sql("SELECT * FROM foia.requests LIMIT 5").show()

CLI

datapond also includes a command-line interface:

# List available databases
datapond list

# Show database details
datapond info eoir

# Download a database
datapond download eoir --path ./data/

# Open an interactive SQL session
datapond connect eoir

How it works

datapond connects to read-only DuckDB files hosted remotely via the httpfs extension. The registry maintains a catalog of available databases with their URLs and metadata.

When you call datapond.connect(), it:

1. Looks up the database in the registry
2. Installs and loads the httpfs extension
3. Attaches the remote DuckDB file as read-only
4. Returns a connection ready for queries

No data is downloaded unless you explicitly call datapond.download().

Links

• Website
• Registry -- catalog of available databases
• Source

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. To add a new database to datapond, submit a pull request to the registry repository.

License

MIT