2025/12/10 - Simon Späti
This Month in the DuckDB Ecosystem: December 2025
DuckDB news: v1.4 adds AES-256 encryption. DuckLake brings ACID-compliant lakehouse with time-travel queries. Gaggle extension queries Kaggle datasets directly via SQL.
A mystery awaits. We've teamed up with DBQuacks, an interactive SQL playground powered by DuckDB, for a holiday challenge. Your mission: crack the case and climb the leaderboard. The reward? Cash and swag for the top sleuths.
What is DBQuacks?
DBQuacks is an interactive SQL playground that runs entirely in your browser. Built on DuckDB, it provides a fast, frictionless environment to learn and practice SQL. No downloads, no configuration, no waiting.
It's the perfect way to:
- Learn SQL fundamentals through guided, hands-on exercises
- Practice analytical queries with real datasets
- Experience DuckDB's speed without leaving your browser
If you've been meaning to level up your SQL skills (or help a colleague do the same), DBQuacks makes it easy to dive in.
The contest: show us your SQL skills
We're running a holiday contest to celebrate. Here's how it works:
How to enter
- Create an account on MotherDuck (or use one you already have)
- Head over to DBQuacks and create an account
- Complete the "Christmas Heist" and rack up the highest score you can
That's it. Your score is your submission.
How scoring works
Points are awarded based on who completes each challenge first. The first person to crack a challenge gets 100 points, the second gets 90, and so on down to 10 points for 10th place and beyond. Only your first correct submission counts, so make it count.
There are 15 challenges in total, ranging from Easy to Hard. The sleuth with the highest total score wins. The first 6 are available now, and the remaining 9 will drop one per day through the 21st.
Prizes
We're giving away cash prizes and MotherDuck swag to the top three participants:
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 🥇 1st Place | $250 Amazon gift card + MotherDuck swag |
| 🥈 2nd Place | $100 Amazon gift card + MotherDuck swag |
| 🥉 3rd Place | $50 Amazon gift card + MotherDuck swag |
Amazon gift cards or local equivalent.
Deadline
All submissions must be in by December 31, 2025 at midnight UTC.
Why we're partnering with DBQuacks
DBQuacks is an independent project that shares our philosophy: working with data should be simple, fast, and accessible. It removes the friction from learning SQL by letting you practice directly in the browser with DuckDB under the hood.
This is what the modern data stack should feel like: powerful tools that just work, without the complexity.
What are you waiting for? Start the Christmas Heist now and see if you can crack the case before December 31! 🦆
Make sure to follow @dbquacksapp for updates. Questions? Drop by the MotherDuck Community Slack.
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