DuckDB: Beyond the Notebook

SQLite as an embedded database is known by everyone — easy to integrate into any application, it's the most widely used database in the world. DuckDB is also an embedded database, but with a focus on analytical queries rather than transactional workloads. Today, DuckDB has evolved into a blazingly fast query engine that runs almost everywhere. This opens up new architectural possibilities for building data-driven applications — especially when analytics need to be delivered directly to end users through interactive reports, dashboards, or exploratory tools. In this workshop, we'll gain hands-on experience with using duckdb, to show how to build fast and lean data applications with DuckDB. We'll explore scenarios including browser-based analytics powered by WebAssembly, serverless function processing data from cloud storage, and embedded analytics in traditional applications. We'll also examine the architectural implications: how embedded OLAP changes data architectures by bringing compute closer to the data, enabling 1.5-tier and cache-layer patterns that eliminate the need for separate analytics infrastructure. Attendees will learn what DuckDB is and how it works, how it differs from other embedded databases, and how to use it to build data-driven applications that go well beyond the notebook.