Files and Remote Sources

Dadbod Grip opens supported files as queryable grids without an active database connection. DuckDB reads the file directly. Enable write mode only for a supported local format when you intend to replace that file.

The duckdb client must be on your PATH before Dadbod Grip can open these sources.

GripOpen

:GripOpen is the entry point for file-based sources.

:GripOpen                      " picker: choose from recent files + connections
:GripOpen data.parquet         " open local Parquet file
:GripOpen logs.csv             " open local CSV
:GripOpen results.json         " open local JSON / NDJSON
:GripOpen book.xlsx            " open an Excel workbook

GripOpen does not save the source to .grip/connections.json. It opens a read session without polluting your connection list. Use :GripConnect if you want to persist it.

Local file types

Extension	Readable	Writable (`--write`)
`.parquet`	yes	yes
`.csv`	yes	yes
`.tsv`	yes	yes
`.json`	yes	yes
`.ndjson`	yes	yes
`.jsonl`	yes	yes
`.xlsx`	yes	no
`.orc`	yes	no
`.arrow`	yes	yes
`.ipc`	yes	yes

DuckDB infers the schema from the file, so you do not need to declare it first.

Remote HTTPS

Open any publicly accessible Parquet or CSV file directly from a URL:

:GripOpen https://raw.githubusercontent.com/some-repo/main/data.parquet
:GripOpen https://example.com/exports/report.csv

DuckDB reads the URL through httpfs. Response time depends on the file format, server, and query; remote URLs remain read-only.

S3 and object storage

:GripOpen s3://my-bucket/data/customers.parquet
:GripOpen s3://my-bucket/logs/2025/*.parquet   " glob: all matching files as one table

Credentials come from the standard AWS chain: ~/.aws/credentials, AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID / AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY env vars, or IAM instance role.

For other S3-compatible stores (Cloudflare R2, MinIO, Backblaze B2):

-- run in the query pad first to configure the endpoint
CREATE TEMP SECRET (
  TYPE s3,
  ENDPOINT 'your-endpoint.example.com',
  KEY_ID 'your-key',
  SECRET 'your-secret'
);

MotherDuck

:GripOpen md:my_database           " open a MotherDuck cloud database
:GripOpen md:                      " pick from available MotherDuck databases

Set MOTHERDUCK_TOKEN in your shell environment before connecting.

Write mode

Write mode makes edits persist back to the source file on disk instead of running DML against a database. Supported for Parquet, CSV, JSON, NDJSON, and TSV.

:Grip data.parquet --write         " open in write mode from the start

Or toggle write mode on any open grid:

g!                                 " toggle write mode

A red WRITE badge appears in the grid winbar when write mode is active. Press a to apply staged edits back to the file. The original file is overwritten.

Write mode supports Parquet, CSV, TSV, JSON, NDJSON, JSONL, Arrow, and IPC. XLSX and ORC remain read-only. Dadbod Grip asks before overwriting a local file; remote URLs are always read-only.

Combining files in federation

Use :GripAttach to bring a file into a DuckDB federation session alongside databases:

:GripAttach /path/to/enrichment.parquet  enrichment

Then JOIN in the query pad:

SELECT prod.customers.email, enrichment.segment
FROM prod.customers
JOIN enrichment.data ON enrichment.customer_id = prod.customers.id

See the Federation docs in the sidebar for the full picture.