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Pick a .duckdb file to open a database, or a .parquet, .csv, .tsv, .json or .ndjson file to read it where it sits. DuckDB 1.5.2 is compiled into the driver, so nothing runs as a server unless you point the connection at one. The driver is not in the app. Picking in the Choose a Database sheet offers the download before the form opens, and opening a saved connection installs it without asking. Settings > Plugins > Browse > installs it up front. See Plugins.

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Quick setup

1

Create the connection

Click Create Connection… or press Cmd+N, then choose DuckDB.
2

Choose a file

Leave Connection Type on Local File and click Browse…. Type :memory: in the field instead for a database that lasts as long as the session.
3

Connect

Click Save & Connect.
DuckDB connection form with Local File and Remote (Quack) connection types

DuckDB connection form

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What the file field accepts

In Local File mode the path is the whole connection, and it is required; the form shows no host, port or Database field. Double-click a .duckdb or .ddb file in Finder to open it in TablePro; the data formats are not registered with Finder.

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Remote (Quack)

Quack is DuckDB’s client-server protocol, served by quack_serve. Set Connection Type to Remote (Quack, experimental): Save & Connect attaches the remote to an in-memory DuckDB. Reach it through the alias: SELECT * FROM remotedb.main.orders.
The quack extension is not linked into the macOS build. DuckDB downloads it from extensions.duckdb.org on the first remote connect and caches it under ~/.duckdb, so that one connect needs to reach that host.

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Connection URL

See Connection URL Reference for all parameters.

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Databases and schemas

A connection opens one database named after the file: analytics.duckdb becomes analytics, schema main. ATTACH a second file and it joins the sidebar as a sibling database after a refresh:
Press Cmd+K to move between them, in place, with no reconnect. DuckDB does not persist attachments, so a reconnect starts again from the one file. system and temp are hidden, and with them information_schema and pg_catalog. Any connection can also read a file straight from SQL:

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Limitations

  • A DuckDB file takes one writer at a time. A connect against a file another process holds fails, naming that process. Quit the duckdb CLI, the Python process or the other TablePro window first.
  • A data file opened through Browse… is read-only, and the file on disk is left byte for byte identical. To change its contents, open a .duckdb database and run CREATE TABLE t AS SELECT * FROM 'data.parquet'.
  • Remote (Quack) lists no tables in the sidebar. Write them out by name through the alias.
  • No SSL/TLS pane and no SSH tunnel. The engine is in-process; see SSL/TLS.
  • No creating or dropping a database. ATTACH is the way to reach a second file.

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Troubleshooting

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No file at …

A data-file path that is not there. Only .duckdb and .ddb are created on demand. Re-pick the file with Browse….

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DuckDB opened the file but reported no catalog to browse

The file opened and exposed nothing to list. Check that it is a DuckDB database and not a file with a borrowed extension.

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Port must be a number between 1 and 65535

Port holds something else. The Quack default is 9494.