Quack Remote Protocol – DuckDB
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Beta release available now
Quack: Turn DuckDB<br>into a client-server database
The Quack protocol unlocks multi-client access for DuckDB,
turning it into a general-purpose database system
Read the announcement<br>Get started
Quack protocol
Client-server access · Beta release
Storage -->
Storage<br>DuckDB database file<br>DuckLake<br>Flat files
Introducing Quack
Hannes Mühleisen introduced Quack at AI Council 2026.
Watch his talk, the “Super-Secret Next Big Thing for DuckDB”.
Architecture
Clients
DuckDB client<br>Quack extension
SELECT * FROM orders LIMIT 5;
┌──────┬───────────┬─────────┐<br>│ id │ product │ total │<br>│ 1 │ widget │ 42.00 │<br>└──────┴───────────┴─────────┘
DuckDB client<br>Quack extension
INSERT INTO orders VALUES<br>(3, 'tool', 29.99);
1 row inserted.
quack:
quack:
Server
DuckDB server<br>Quack extension
CALL quack_serve();
listening on port 9494
2 active connections
catalog: my_database.duckdb
read/write
Storage
DuckDB
DuckLake
my_database.duckdb
128 MB · last write 0.3s
TABLES<br>VIEWS<br>ACID TRANSACTIONS<br>PRIMARY KEYS<br>INDEXES
my_ducklake
Catalog database
Object storage
Parquet file
Parquet file
128 MB · last write 0.5s
TABLES<br>VIEWS<br>ACID TRANSACTIONS<br>SNAPSHOTS<br>TIME TRAVEL
How it works
Client-server setup
You can take any two DuckDB processes on a network and turn them into client and server by using the Quack extension. The Quack protocol supports the full DuckDB feature set – over the wire.
Optimized for performance
We designed the Quack protocol for performance. We minimized the number of round trips, and ensured that the protocol can handle small updates and large batches just as well.
Try Quack today
Install and configure Quack in seconds
Command line
Python
AWS CloudFormation
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Step 1
Install DuckDB
curl https://install.duckdb.org | sh
Step 2
Launch Quack on the server
CALL quack_serve(<br>'quack:localhost',<br>token = 'super_secret'<br>);
CREATE TABLE hello AS<br>FROM VALUES ('world') v(s);
Step 3
Connect from the client
CREATE SECRET (<br>TYPE quack,<br>TOKEN 'super_secret'<br>);
ATTACH 'quack:localhost' AS remote;<br>FROM remote.hello;
Step 1
Install DuckDB
pip install duckdb
Step 2
Install the Quack extension
# TODO: Install the Quack extension
Step 3
Start the server
# TODO: Start the server
Step 1
Deploy via CloudFormation
aws cloudformation create-stack \<br>--stack-name my-quack-demo \<br>--template-url https://duckdb-quack-ami.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/quack.yaml \<br>--region us-east-2
More deployment options
Frequently asked questions
What is Quack?
Quack allows DuckDB to connect to a DuckDB server through the quack: protocol. You can think of Quack as a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocol for DuckDB. Quack enables DuckDB instances to talk to each other, effectively turning DuckDB into a client-server database management system, where both the client and the server are DuckDB instances.
Why is it called Quack?
Mallard ducks communicate by quacking, so it's only fair that DuckDB instances communicate through the protocol quack.
When should I use Quack?
Quack can be beneficial in a number of scenarios, including the following:
You need concurrent read-write access to the same DuckDB database.
Your data is on a server and you want to move the computation as close to the data as possible.
You have a powerful server that can process the data but would like to see the results on your local computer.
And many more – we are excited to see what the community comes up with.
Can I use DuckDB with Quack for transactional (OLTP) workloads?
Yes. DuckDB with Quack can handle a few thousand writes per second on a server with 8 CPUs and 32 GB RAM. See the benchmarks in our announcement blog post.
Can I still run DuckDB as an in-process database?
Yes, DuckDB as an in-process database will continue working just as it did before, and we will treat the in-process deployment model as a first-class citizen in the DuckDB ecosystem.
More FAQs
Quack in the DuckDB ecosystem
Client-server DuckDB
Quack turns DuckDB into a client-server database for multi-writer and remote access.
DuckLake server
Quack supports querying DuckLake and other data lake formats.
Community extensions
Quack works with all DuckDB extensions, including the Community Extension ecosystem.