Amazon Web Services has integrated the DuckDB analytical engine into its Aurora PostgreSQL database management system. This update allows users to query Apache Iceberg and Apache Parquet data stored in Amazon S3 directly from Aurora without the need for extract, transform, and load pipelines.
The feature enables applications to combine live operational transactions with historical records. AWS acquired DuckLabs B.V., the developer of the DuckDB engine, in August 2026. The integration supports external catalogs through AWS Glue and allows for filtering and caching to optimize performance.
Developers can monitor metrics such as rows scanned and bytes read from S3. For workloads requiring single-digit-millisecond latency, users can copy data lake records into native Aurora tables. The capability is accessible via the aurora_analytics extension.
The functionality is compatible with Aurora PostgreSQL versions 17.11 and 18.6 or higher. It is currently available across all commercial AWS regions. There is no additional charge for the feature, though users pay for incremental computing resources and S3 requests.
