DataFusion-DuckLake

A DataFusion extension for reading and writing DuckLake catalogs. DuckLake is an integrated data lake and catalog format that stores metadata in a SQL database and data as Parquet files on disk or object storage.

The goal of this project is to make DuckLake a first-class, Arrow-native lakehouse format inside DataFusion.

This project is maintained by Hotdata with support from the community. Come talk to us on the Hotdata Discord.

• 📦 crates.io: https://crates.io/crates/datafusion-ducklake
• 📖 API docs: https://docs.rs/datafusion-ducklake
• 🧩 Feature & backend support: see COMPATIBILITY.md
• 💬 Project chat: DataFusion+DuckLake Discord — development and usage discussion
• 🧡 Meet the team: Hotdata Discord

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Quick start

Add the crate:

cargo add datafusion-ducklake

The default build includes the DuckDB catalog backend, statically bundled. Other backends and write support are opt-in via feature flags — see COMPATIBILITY.md for the full matrix.

# Cargo.toml — read PostgreSQL catalogs
# (for the experimental multi-catalog write path, use features = ["write-postgres"])
[dependencies]
datafusion-ducklake = { version = "0.3", features = ["metadata-postgres"] }

The examples below also use datafusion, object_store, and url directly — add them to your [dependencies] as well (this crate does not re-export them). The write example additionally uses sqlx (with its postgres and runtime-tokio features) to open the connection pool.

Run a query against an existing PostgreSQL catalog with the bundled example:

cargo run --example basic_query --features metadata-postgres -- \
  "postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/database" "SELECT * FROM main.users"

(The example also accepts DuckDB, SQLite, and MySQL connection strings with the matching metadata-* feature — see COMPATIBILITY.md.)

---

Reading a catalog

Register a DuckLakeCatalog with a SessionContext and query it with normal SQL as catalog.schema.table:

use datafusion::execution::runtime_env::RuntimeEnv;
use datafusion::prelude::*;
use datafusion_ducklake::{DuckLakeCatalog, PostgresMetadataProvider};
use object_store::ObjectStore;
use object_store::aws::AmazonS3Builder;
use std::sync::Arc;
use url::Url;

// (inside an async fn)
// Read metadata from a PostgreSQL catalog
let provider = PostgresMetadataProvider::new("postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db").await?;

// Register object stores for any non-local data (S3 / MinIO)
let runtime = Arc::new(RuntimeEnv::default());
let s3: Arc<dyn ObjectStore> = Arc::new(
    AmazonS3Builder::new()
        .with_endpoint("http://localhost:9000") // MinIO endpoint
        .with_bucket_name("ducklake-data")
        .with_access_key_id("minioadmin")
        .with_secret_access_key("minioadmin")
        .with_region("us-west-2") // any region works for MinIO
        .with_allow_http(true)    // required for http:// endpoints
        .build()?,
);
runtime.register_object_store(&Url::parse("s3://ducklake-data/")?, s3);

let catalog = DuckLakeCatalog::new(provider)?;
let ctx = SessionContext::new_with_config_rt(
    SessionConfig::new().with_default_catalog_and_schema("ducklake", "main"),
    runtime,
);
ctx.register_catalog("ducklake", Arc::new(catalog));

let df = ctx.sql("SELECT * FROM ducklake.main.my_table").await?;
df.show().await?;

---

Writing a catalog

PostgreSQL writes go through the experimental multi-catalog layout described in the next section — treat them as a preview. Tables are created through the writer API; once a table exists, you append to it with SQL INSERT INTO. (SQL CREATE TABLE / CTAS is not supported on this path — DataFusion cannot create the schema, so the first write goes through DuckLakeTableWriter.)

use datafusion::prelude::*;
use datafusion_ducklake::metadata_writer::MetadataWriter; // set_data_path
use datafusion_ducklake::{
    DuckLakeCatalog, DuckLakeTableWriter, MulticatalogManager, MulticatalogProvider,
    PostgresMetadataWriter, initialize_multicatalog_schema,
};
use sqlx::postgres::PgPoolOptions;
use std::sync::Arc;

let pool = PgPoolOptions::new().connect("postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db").await?;

// One-time: bootstrap the multi-catalog tables, then create a named catalog
initialize_multicatalog_schema(&pool).await?;
let catalog_id = MulticatalogManager::new(pool.clone()).create_catalog("my_catalog").await?;

// Create a table by writing the first batch through the table writer
let writer = Arc::new(PostgresMetadataWriter::with_pool(pool.clone(), catalog_id).await?);
writer.set_data_path("/abs/path/to/data")?;
let object_store: Arc<dyn object_store::ObjectStore> =
    Arc::new(object_store::local::LocalFileSystem::new());
let table_writer = DuckLakeTableWriter::new(writer.clone(), object_store)?;
table_writer.write_table("public", "events", &[batch]).await?; // `batch` is your RecordBatch

// Now append with SQL, reading the same catalog back through MulticatalogProvider
let provider = MulticatalogProvider::with_pool(pool.clone(), "my_catalog").await?;
let catalog = DuckLakeCatalog::with_writer(Arc::new(provider), writer)?;
let ctx = SessionContext::new();
ctx.register_catalog("ducklake", Arc::new(catalog));
ctx.sql("INSERT INTO ducklake.public.events VALUES (1, 'a')").await?.collect().await?;
ctx.sql("SELECT count(*) FROM ducklake.public.events").await?.show().await?;

Writer output is configurable (Parquet compression, row-group sizing by row count and byte size). See DuckLakeTableWriter for the writer options.

Writing to a standard, single-catalog DuckLake store (the spec-compliant layout) is supported today for SQLite via SqliteMetadataWriter (feature write-sqlite), where SQL CREATE TABLE AS SELECT and INSERT INTO both work. See tests/sql_write_tests.rs.

---

Multi-catalog (PostgreSQL, experimental)

A single PostgreSQL metadata store can host multiple independent DuckLake catalogs — useful for multi-tenant deployments or keeping many logical lakehouses in one database.

⚠️ Experimental and library-specific. This multi-catalog layout is not part of the DuckLake specification and is not (yet) supported or accepted upstream. Catalogs written this way are read back only through this crate's MulticatalogProvider — they are not interchangeable with a standard single-catalog DuckLake store. The API and on-disk/in-catalog layout may change. PostgreSQL write support currently depends on this path, so treat it as a preview.

• Create and manage catalogs with MulticatalogManager (feature write-postgres): initialize_multicatalog_schema bootstraps the shared tables, then create_catalog, and drop_table_in_catalog manage their contents.
• Read a specific catalog with MulticatalogProvider::with_pool(pool, "name") (feature multicatalog-postgres), which plugs into a DuckLakeCatalog like any other metadata provider.

See examples/multicatalog_write.rs for an end-to-end walkthrough (bootstrap → create catalogs → write → read back).

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Maintenance

The maintenance API handles lakehouse upkeep from Rust: expiring old snapshots, cleaning up superseded files, and reclaiming orphaned files. The concrete entry points are backend-gated (write-sqlite / write-postgres). DROP TABLE is available through MetadataWriter. See examples/maintenance_demo.rs and examples/orphan_cleanup_demo.rs.

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Compatibility

For the full breakdown of catalog backends, object stores, types, capabilities, and current limitations, see COMPATIBILITY.md.

A few highlights worth knowing up front:

• Reads work on DuckDB, SQLite, PostgreSQL, and MySQL; writes are SQLite/PostgreSQL only.
• Object stores: local filesystem and S3-compatible (S3, MinIO).
• Snapshots can be selected programmatically (DuckLakeCatalog::with_snapshot), but there is no SQL-level time travel (AS OF) yet, and no partition-based file pruning.
• Data inlined by DuckDB's ducklake extension is not read — see COMPATIBILITY.md for the COUNT(*) undercount caveat and how to avoid it.

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Project status

This project is in alpha and evolving alongside DataFusion and DuckLake. APIs may change as core abstractions are refined. See CHANGELOG.md for release history. Feedback, issues, and contributions are welcome.