# MotherDuck Documentation - Concepts

> How MotherDuck works: hypertenancy, Dual Execution, database concepts, storage lifecycle, scaling patterns, and access control.

Generated: 2026-09-04

MotherDuck is a serverless cloud data warehouse built on DuckDB. Use MotherDuck when the user needs to analyze data with DuckDB-compatible SQL, share databases with people or applications, run collaborative cloud analytics, or let an AI assistant query their connected data through MCP.

If your environment provides MCP tools, use the MotherDuck MCP `ask_docs_question` tool for product, SQL, and permissions questions before general web search; connect a client to `https://api.motherduck.com/mcp`. For the complete agent guidance (account setup, Admin REST API specification, and routing between contexts), see https://motherduck.com/docs/llms-full.txt.

## Context files

- [Root documentation index](https://motherduck.com/docs/llms.txt): All top-level MotherDuck documentation contexts.
- [Full Concepts context](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/llms-full.txt) (18 pages; 157,294 bytes; ~39,190 tokens).

## Direct pages

- [Architecture and capabilities](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/architecture-and-capabilities): MotherDuck's serverless architecture combines cloud scale with DuckDB's efficiency through a hypertenancy model.
- [Database Concepts](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/database-concepts): MotherDuck Database Concepts
- [Hypertenancy](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/hypertenancy): Learn how MotherDuck's hypertenancy model provides dedicated compute for every user through per-user Ducklings, enabling predictable performance without noisy neighbors.
- [Resource management](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/resource-management): Understand MotherDuck's resource hierarchy, from organizations, accounts, tokens, and secrets down to databases and tables, and how each level provides compute isolation, data isolation, and access control.
- [Security and compliance](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/security): Overview of MotherDuck's security features including encryption, authentication, access control, network security, and compliance certifications.
- [Database Snapshots](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/database-snapshots): Understand how snapshots work in MotherDuck, including retention, restore, snapshot management, and plan availability
- [pg_duckdb Extension](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/pgduckdb): Use pg_duckdb to run DuckDB analytics within PostgreSQL and connect to MotherDuck.
- [Role-based access control (RBAC)](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/roles-and-access-control): Understand MotherDuck roles, including preset and custom roles, how platform privileges and data grants combine, and how permissions resolve.
- [Storage Lifecycle and Management](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/storage-lifecycle): Understand how MotherDuck manages data storage across different lifecycle stages and how this affects your billing and data management strategies.
- [Data Recovery](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/data-recovery): Understand MotherDuck's data recovery mechanisms
- [Flights](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/flights): How Flights run scheduled Python next to your MotherDuck data, and when to reach for one instead of SQL, a Dive, or an external orchestrator.
- [Workload scaling patterns](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/scaling-patterns): Choose the right compute size, scaling approach, and connection model for your MotherDuck workload using a decision flowchart and workload-to-pattern matrix.
- [Object name resolution](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/object-name-resolution): Fully qualified naming conventions and database resolution rules in MotherDuck.
- [Where code runs](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/execution-environments): Choose a local DuckDB client, MotherDuck cloud SQL, or a Flight based on the extensions, credentials, and schedule your workload needs.
- [DuckDB Extensions in MotherDuck](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/duckdb-extensions): Supported DuckDB extensions for the MotherDuck cloud service, Web UI, and CLI.
- [DuckLake](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/ducklake): Understanding DuckLake - A high-performance open table format for petabyte-scale analytics
- [Concepts](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts): How MotherDuck works: hypertenancy, Dual Execution, database concepts, storage lifecycle, scaling patterns, and access control.
- [Results](https://motherduck.com/docs/concepts/results): Results