DuckDB Extensions Ecosystem

DuckDB keeps its core binary small and adds capability through extensions — separate modules you install and load on demand rather than always shipping in the base engine.

The Basic Pattern

INSTALL <extension_name>;   -- downloads once, cached locally
LOAD <extension_name>;      -- loads into the current session

Most official extensions also autoload: referencing read_parquet(...) or an s3:// path triggers DuckDB to install and load the relevant extension automatically the first time it’s needed, without an explicit INSTALL/LOAD line.

Core Official Extensions

Extension	Purpose
`httpfs`	HTTP(S), S3, GCS, and Azure Blob access
`json`	JSON reading, parsing, and functions
`parquet`	Parquet read/write (built in, always available)
`spatial`	Geospatial types (`GEOMETRY`), functions, and format readers (Shapefile, GeoJSON)
`fts`	Full-text search — BM25-ranked search over text columns
`iceberg`	Read Apache Iceberg tables
`delta`	Read Delta Lake tables
`excel`	Read/write `.xlsx` files directly
`postgres_scanner`	Query a live Postgres database as if it were a DuckDB table
`sqlite_scanner`	Query a SQLite file directly

Example: Full-Text Search

INSTALL fts;
LOAD fts;

PRAGMA create_fts_index('articles', 'id', 'title', 'body');

SELECT id, title, fts_main_articles.match_bm25(id, 'duckdb performance') AS score
FROM articles
WHERE score IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY score DESC;

Example: Querying a Live Postgres Table

INSTALL postgres;
LOAD postgres;

ATTACH 'dbname=mydb user=postgres host=localhost' AS pg (TYPE postgres);
SELECT * FROM pg.public.customers LIMIT 10;

This lets DuckDB act as a federation layer — joining a live Postgres table to a local Parquet file to an S3-hosted CSV in a single query, without moving any of it into a permanent copy first.

Community Extensions

Beyond the official set maintained by DuckDB Labs, a growing community extension registry hosts third-party extensions (installed the same way, via INSTALL <name> FROM community) for things like additional geospatial formats, specialized compression codecs, and integrations with niche file formats. Browse the current list at duckdb.org/community_extensions.

Written by NPBlue Data Team — Data Platform Engineers who uses DuckDB daily for local analytics, feature engineering, and data pipeline development.

Reviewed for technical accuracy. Spot an error? Let us know.