---
title: "Alex Monahan - MotherDuck Blog"
description: "Alex joins us from Intel where he worked as a data scientist building a DuckDB-powered analytics platform."
canonical: "https://motherduck.com/authors/alex-monahan/"
---

# Alex Monahan

Alex Monahan's photo

Developer Advocate

Alex joins us from Intel where he worked as a data scientist building a DuckDB-powered analytics platform.

## 27 BLOG POSTS AND VIDEOS

[2026/08/28 - Alex Monahan](/blog/Agentic-SQL-for-Free-with-Qwen3.8-27B-and-DuckDB)

### [Agentic SQL for Free with Qwen3.8 27B and DuckDB](/blog/Agentic-SQL-for-Free-with-Qwen3.8-27B-and-DuckDB)

If your laptop has 16GB of RAM, your agent can write SQL locally for free with Qwen3.8 27B. On the DABstep SQL benchmark, Qwen beat GPT 5.6 Luna and cost under 50 cents in electricity, over 17x less. Add DuckDB and you have a data analyst that runs on your own machine. This post covers the benchmark results and walks through the setup, including which quantized model to download for your laptop.

[2026/08/20 - Jacob Matson, Alex Monahan](/blog/AI-writes-the-semantic-layer/)

### [AI Writes the Semantic Layer](/blog/AI-writes-the-semantic-layer)

We proved that AI agents could build a semantic layer. The more interesting result was that the semantic layer itself became disposable. Q&A pairs are unreasonably effective at capturing business intent and give agents something concrete to iterate with. If code can be regenerated, where should your company accrue knowledge?

[2026/08/18 - Alex Monahan](/blog/scalable-data-apps-with-motherduck-and-replit/)

### [Scalable Data Apps with MotherDuck & Replit](/blog/scalable-data-apps-with-motherduck-and-replit)

AI agents make building data apps easy, but what about deploying them or making sure they scale? Replit provides a way for just about anyone to build real applications, and MotherDuck is the easiest way to help them scale to larger data sizes. Load data with MotherDuck Flights and you can query millions to billions of rows on the fly!

[2026/08/13 - Alex Monahan](/blog/vibe-code-data-apps-with-vercel-v0-and-MotherDuck/)

### [Vibe Code Data Apps with Vercel V0 & MotherDuck](/blog/vibe-code-data-apps-with-vercel-v0-and-MotherDuck)

Use an agent to build data apps with the combo of Vercel V0 and MotherDuck! V0 makes prototyping and deployment easy, while MotherDuck Flights provide seamless data ingestion and MotherDuck handles up to billions of rows. Your agent can even sign up for MotherDuck for you! See a full example app and the prompt that kickstarted it!

[2026/08/01 - Alex Monahan, Jacob Matson](/blog/openai-just-made-analytics-10x-cheaper/)

### [OpenAI Just Made Analytics 10x Cheaper](/blog/openai-just-made-analytics-10x-cheaper)

Since OpenAI slashed the price of GPT 5.6 Luna by 80% this week, low latency AI-powered answers are finally feasible for less than half a penny per answer, AI and DB costs included. For data questions, GPT 5.6 Luna is intelligence too cheap to meter. Well documented context, rigorous evals, and a fast analytical engine are now the determining factors.

[2026/07/16 - Alex Monahan](/blog/developer-dad-does-disney/)

### [Developer Dad Does Disney: Vacationing in the Personal Software Era](/blog/developer-dad-does-disney)

Waiting in line is no fun! While standing in line at Disney World, a developer dad built a custom data app to pick the perfect next ride. It combines live APIs, historical wait times, and weather data into personal software with MotherDuck's MCP, Dives, and Flights.

[2026/07/10 - Alex Monahan](/blog/ducklake-architecture-deep-dive/)

### [DuckLake Architecture Deep Dive](/blog/ducklake-architecture-deep-dive)

DuckLake is a next generation data lakehouse and open table format. It is significantly simpler and faster than Apache Iceberg or Delta Lake because it uses a SQL database for storing the catalog and metadata. This post covers an architecture deep dive with a detailed Q&A section. DuckLake consists of 3 components: storage, catalog, and compute. Each can be scaled independently, hosted locally with ease, and deployed to the cloud for production. MotherDuck offers managed DuckLake lakehouses for additional simplicity and performance.

[1:00:17](/videos/ducklake-architecture-deep-dive/)[2026-07-09](/videos/ducklake-architecture-deep-dive/)

### [The Database Inside Your Lakehouse: A DuckLake Architecture Deep Dive](/videos/ducklake-architecture-deep-dive/)

See inside DuckLake's architecture: a SQL database catalog, Parquet storage, and pluggable compute that cut metadata latency to milliseconds.

Webinar

SQL

MotherDuck Features

[2026/06/18 - Alex Monahan](/blog/flight-plans-templates-for-ai-native-data-pipelines/)

### [Flight Plans: Templates for AI-Native Data Pipelines](/blog/flight-plans-templates-for-ai-native-data-pipelines)

Build full data pipelines by prompting your AI agent, no Python required. MotherDuck Flights are perfect for data ingestion, transformation, and activation. Flight Plan templates show you and your agent how to ingest from Postgres, sync Google Sheets, and send Slack alerts.

[1:02:00](/videos/ai-for-sales-marketing-teams/)[2026-05-07](/videos/ai-for-sales-marketing-teams/)

### [AI Data Analysis for Sales & Marketing Teams: Real Demos, No SQL Required](/videos/ai-for-sales-marketing-teams/)

Watch how an AE and a marketer use AI to analyze their own business data without writing SQL or waiting on a data team.

Webinar

AI, ML and LLMs

MotherDuck Features

Tutorial

[1:01:04](/videos/ducklake-lakehouse-getting-started/)[2026-04-28](/videos/ducklake-lakehouse-getting-started/)

### [The DuckLake Lakehouse: From Getting Started to Going Fast](/videos/ducklake-lakehouse-getting-started/)

Learn how DuckLake's SQL-backed catalog cuts metadata latency to milliseconds, then tune Parquet settings, inlining, and partitioning for production.

Webinar

SQL

MotherDuck Features

[2026/04/16 - Alex Monahan](/blog/announcing-ducklake-1-0-on-motherduck/)

### [Announcing DuckLake 1.0 on MotherDuck](/blog/announcing-ducklake-1-0-on-motherduck)

MotherDuck now supports DuckLake 1.0, the open table lakehouse format designed for simplicity and low latency. Learn what's new in the 1.0 release, including data inlining, clustering, bucket partitioning, geometry and variant types, plus multi-engine support. Learn how DuckLake compares with Apache Iceberg and Delta Lake.

[60:41](/videos/zero-latency-analytics-dives-embed/)[2026-04-09](/videos/zero-latency-analytics-dives-embed/)

### [Zero-Latency Analytics in Your Application with Dives](/videos/zero-latency-analytics-dives-embed/)

BI tools were never built to be app interfaces — they're rigid, clunky, and add complexity to your user experience. Dives offer a different approach: interactive data apps you create with natural language that can be embedded directly into your applications. In this session, Alex Monahan walks through how to build a Dive and embed it in your app, with help from AI agents. You'll learn how to create interactive visualizations with natural language queries, embed Dives into your app with a secure sandbox, set up the auth flow so your users get read-only access without exposing credentials, and choose between server-side and dual execution with DuckDB-Wasm. Whether you're building customer-facing analytics or internal tools, this webinar shows you the full workflow from query to production-ready embed. See how Claude Code + Dives can get you from zero to a working data app fast.

Webinar

MotherDuck Features

BI & Visualization

App Development

[58:00](/videos/whats-new-duckdb-15/)[2026-04-07](/videos/whats-new-duckdb-15/)

### [What's New in DuckDB 1.5!](/videos/whats-new-duckdb-15/)

Alex Monahan and Jacob Matson walk through DuckDB 1.5's biggest features including the VARIANT type, redesigned CLI, built-in GEOMETRY, and faster joins.

Webinar

[55:29](/videos/ducklake-definitive-guide-oreilly-book/)[2026-04-02](/videos/ducklake-definitive-guide-oreilly-book/)

### [All About DuckLake: The O'Reilly Book](/videos/ducklake-definitive-guide-oreilly-book/)

Matt Martin and Alex Monahan, coauthors of O'Reilly's DuckLake: The Definitive Guide, discuss what DuckLake is, how it simplifies lakehouse architecture, and why it replaces file-based metadata with a SQL database. Includes a live Q&A and the release of Chapter 1.

Webinar

Ecosystem

[43:41](/videos/interactive-data-apps-motherduck-dives/)[2026-03-26](/videos/interactive-data-apps-motherduck-dives/)

### [Beyond Charts: Building Interactive Data Apps with MotherDuck Dives](/videos/interactive-data-apps-motherduck-dives/)

Learn to build interactive data apps with MotherDuck Dives. Go beyond static charts with live SQL, React components, and shareable URLs.

Webinar

MotherDuck Features

BI & Visualization

[2026/03/24 - Alex Monahan](/blog/dont-fear-the-agents-ai-on-the-data-lakehouse/)

### [Don't Fear the Agents - AI on the Data Lakehouse](/blog/dont-fear-the-agents-ai-on-the-data-lakehouse)

Learn how MotherDuck's Hosted DuckLake combines lakehouse scale (borrowing the best ideas from Apache Iceberg and Delta Lake) with low latency and agent sandbox isolation, making it the simplest data lakehouse for AI-powered agentic workflows.

[2026/03/09 - Alex Monahan](/blog/DuckDB-1.5-features-I-am-excited-about)

### [DuckDB 1.5 Features I am Excited About](/blog/DuckDB-1.5-features-I-am-excited-about)

DuckDB 1.5 is both faster and easier to use! JSON analysis can be up to 100x faster thanks to the VARIANT type and JSON shredding. Real-world queries are faster, including both basic and complex queries. Writes to Azure are supported, and checkpoint concurrency is dramatically improved.

[2026/03/02 - Alex Monahan](/blog/claude-code-plus-dives-equals-any-data-ui/)

### [Claude Code + Dives = Any data UI](/blog/claude-code-plus-dives-equals-any-data-ui)

Learn how to build custom interactive data visualizations using MotherDuck Dives and Claude Code. From setup to sharing, create refreshable React and SQL-powered visuals with natural language prompts.

[2026-01-21](/videos/mcp-sessions-supply-chain-analytics/)

### [The MCP Sessions - Vol 2: Supply Chain Analytics](/videos/mcp-sessions-supply-chain-analytics/)

Jacob and Alex from MotherDuck query data using the MotherDuck MCP. Watch as they analyze 180,000 rows of shipment data through conversational AI, uncovering late delivery patterns, profitability insights, and operational trends with no SQL required!

Stream

AI, ML and LLMs

MotherDuck Features

SQL

BI & Visualization

Tutorial

[2025-10-14](/videos/ducklake-big-data-small-coalesce-2025/)

### [DuckLake: Making BIG DATA feel small (Coalesce 2025)](/videos/ducklake-big-data-small-coalesce-2025/)

MotherDuck’s managed DuckLake data lakehouse blends the cost efficiency, scale, and openness of a lakehouse with the speed of a warehouse for truly joyful dbt pipelines. They will show you how!

Talk

[2025/10/09 - Alex Monahan, Garrett O'Brien](/blog/announcing-duckdb-141-motherduck/)

### [DuckDB 1.4.1 and DuckLake 0.3 Land in MotherDuck: New SQL Syntax, Iceberg Interoperability, and Performance Gains](/blog/announcing-duckdb-141-motherduck)

MotherDuck now supports DuckDB 1.4.1 and DuckLake 0.3, with new SQL syntax, faster sorting, Iceberg interoperability, and more. Read on for the highlights from these major releases.

[2025/08/04 - Jacob Matson, Alex Monahan](/blog/just-enough-sql-for-ai/)

### [Just Enough SQL to be Dangerous with AI](/blog/just-enough-sql-for-ai)

Learn essential SQL to verify AI-generated queries. Master SELECT, JOIN, and CTEs to safely analyze data with LLMs. Includes DuckDB examples and safety tips

[2025-06-02](/videos/taming-file-zoos-data-science-with-duckdb-database-files/)

### [Taming file zoos: Data science with DuckDB database files](/videos/taming-file-zoos-data-science-with-duckdb-database-files/)

Tame "file zoos" with DuckDB! This talk reveals how DuckDB seamlessly integrates with Python to read/write diverse files (CSV, Parquet), organize data efficiently, enable larger-than-memory analysis, and streamline your workflows.

Python

Talk

[0:52:48](/videos/local-dev-cloud-prod-with-dagster-and-motherduck/)[2024-04-22](/videos/local-dev-cloud-prod-with-dagster-and-motherduck/)

### [Local Dev, Cloud Prod with Dagster and MotherDuck](/videos/local-dev-cloud-prod-with-dagster-and-motherduck/)

Develop locally and ship to production confidently with Dagster data pipelines, Evidence dashboards powered by DuckDB and Markdown, and the MotherDuck cloud data warehouse.

YouTube

Data Pipelines

[0:00:47](/videos/no-sql-standard-for-7-years/)[2024-01-22](/videos/no-sql-standard-for-7-years/)

### [No SQL standard for 7 years ?!](/videos/no-sql-standard-for-7-years/)

This short of Mehdi with Alex Monahan discusses the lack of evolution of the SQL standard. “(SQL) stands for Structured Query Language, not Standard Query Language”

YouTube

Short

SQL

[0:54:38](/videos/friendly-sql-with-duckdb/)[2024-01-05](/videos/friendly-sql-with-duckdb/)

### [Friendly SQL with DuckDB](/videos/friendly-sql-with-duckdb/)

Explore friendly and even friendlier SQL & DuckDB with Mehdi annd Alex Monahan! They discuss history, its future role in data and show some tips and tricks.

YouTube

SQL

Quack & Code

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