interloper-duckdb

DuckDB tables as an interloper destination: a DuckDBDestination writing to a local .duckdb file or a MotherDuck database, and the DuckDBConnection that opens it.

Setup

A local file needs nothing but a path; DuckDB creates the file on first write:

from interloper_duckdb import DuckDBConnection

connection = DuckDBConnection(database="./warehouse.duckdb")

A MotherDuck database is named md:<database> and authenticates with a service token from the MotherDuck settings page:

connection = DuckDBConnection(database="md:my_db", motherduck_token="...")

Both fields also load from the environment (DUCKDB_DATABASE, DUCKDB_MOTHERDUCK_TOKEN), so DuckDBConnection() works with no arguments.

Usage

import interloper as il
from interloper_duckdb import DuckDBConnection, DuckDBDestination

destination = DuckDBDestination(
    connection=DuckDBConnection(database="./warehouse.duckdb"),
    default_dataset="raw",
)

In a deployed instance you configure this through the UI instead: add a DuckDB connection, then a DuckDB destination using it.

Datasets are schemas

An asset's dataset is a DuckDB schema. A table lands in the asset's dataset, else in the destination's default_dataset, else in main. The schema and the table are created on the first write, the columns typed from the asset's schema (or from one inferred from the data), and never altered afterwards: a column the table does not have is dropped from the write with a warning.

Partitions

A write replaces what it covers, in one transaction: the whole table for an unpartitioned asset, the rows inside a time partition's bounds (day >= start AND day < end), or the rows equal to a partition's id for any other partitioning. A window deletes each partition it covers and inserts the whole batch once. If the insert fails, the delete is rolled back and the table keeps its previous rows.

One writer per file

A local DuckDB file admits one writing process at a time. Concurrent assets in one process are fine (each write runs on its own cursor), but two processes writing to the same file, such as two pods or a scheduler and a notebook, fail to open it. A connection holds the file from its first use until its process exits, and that includes the connection check the app runs from the API process. Run the instance's writes in one process, or use MotherDuck, which serves many writers.

Querying the tables

The tables are plain DuckDB tables, so any DuckDB client reads them:

duckdb warehouse.duckdb -c 'SELECT * FROM raw.ads_stats LIMIT 10'

import duckdb

duckdb.connect("warehouse.duckdb", read_only=True).sql("SELECT * FROM raw.ads_stats").df()

Another process can open the file only while no process holds it for writing. Open it read_only, so the reader does not lock the instance out in turn.

Docker images

The published interloper images do not ship this package. They are built on Alpine, and DuckDB publishes no musllinux wheels, so installing it there means compiling DuckDB from source. Run it from a glibc-based image (for example a python:3.12-slim base with pip install interloper-duckdb), or anywhere outside the images: the CLI, a notebook, a local scheduler.