MATLAB Database Toolbox Interface to DuckDB

Use when working with DuckDB databases from MATLAB using Database Toolbox. DuckDB is an embedded analytical database engine that ships with Database Toolbox starting in R2026a. It enables SQL-based analytics on files, out-of-memory data preprocessing, and portable development databases — all without external database server configuration.

When to Use This Skill

• Connecting to a DuckDB database (in-memory or file-based)
• Creating a new DuckDB database file for development workflows
• Querying CSV, Parquet, or JSON files directly with SQL
• Preprocessing large data that doesn't fit in memory before importing into MATLAB
• Using DuckDB as an analytical engine for filtering, aggregation, joins, or sorting
• Installing and using DuckDB extensions
• Converting existing MATLAB array/table operations into equivalent DuckDB SQL queries
• Optimizing a data pipeline that reads files into MATLAB memory before processing
• Replacing MATLAB file I/O bottlenecks (readtable, readmatrix, parquetread, xlsread, csvread) with direct DuckDB file reads
• User mentions keywords: DuckDB, duckdb, analytical engine, embedded database, parquet, CSV analytics, in-memory database, portable database, development database, out-of-memory preprocessing, optimize data pipeline, convert to SQL, replace readtable, replace parquetread, file bottleneck

When NOT to Use