# MotherDuck Documentation - How-to guides

> Step-by-step guides for connecting to MotherDuck, loading data, sharing databases, managing organizations, and using AI features.

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 How-to guides context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/llms-full.txt) (87 pages; 28,361 bytes; ~7,090 tokens).

## Child contexts

- [AI and MotherDuck full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/ai-and-motherduck/llms-full.txt): Practical guides for using AI with MotherDuck. (8 pages; 104,237 bytes; ~26,031 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/ai-and-motherduck/llms.txt).
- [Authenticating and connecting to MotherDuck full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/authenticating-and-connecting-to-motherduck/llms-full.txt): Learn how to authenticate and connect to MotherDuck (14 pages; 106,975 bytes; ~26,724 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/authenticating-and-connecting-to-motherduck/llms.txt).
- [Customer-Facing Analytics full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/customer-facing-analytics/llms-full.txt) (2 pages; 25,949 bytes; ~6,479 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/customer-facing-analytics/llms.txt).
- [Data Warehousing full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/data-warehousing/llms-full.txt): Data Warehousing How-to guides (8 pages; 75,246 bytes; ~18,810 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/data-warehousing/llms.txt).
- [Dives full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/dives/llms-full.txt): Build interactive visualizations from natural language using AI agents and the MotherDuck MCP Server (6 pages; 78,759 bytes; ~19,643 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/dives/llms.txt).
- [Flights full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/flights/llms-full.txt): Build scheduled Python workflows in MotherDuck for ingest, transformation, sharing, and operational tasks. (11 pages; 119,496 bytes; ~29,826 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/flights/llms.txt).
- [Guides full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/guides/llms-full.txt): | (2 pages; 43,123 bytes; ~10,747 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/guides/llms.txt).
- [Database operations full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/database-operations/llms-full.txt): Learn how to work with databases and MotherDuck (7 pages; 31,483 bytes; ~7,488 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/database-operations/llms.txt).
- [Interacting with cloud storage full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/cloud-storage/llms-full.txt): Learn how to work with databases and MotherDuck (4 pages; 16,226 bytes; ~4,056 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/cloud-storage/llms.txt).
- [Loading data into MotherDuck full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/loading-data-into-motherduck/llms-full.txt): Learn how to load data into MotherDuck from various sources (9 pages; 51,759 bytes; ~12,936 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/loading-data-into-motherduck/llms.txt).
- [Managing Organizations full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/managing-organizations/llms-full.txt): Learn how to manage your organization with MotherDuck (2 pages; 14,799 bytes; ~3,698 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/managing-organizations/llms.txt).
- [Service accounts full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/service-accounts-guide/llms-full.txt): Learn how to create, configure, manage, and impersonate MotherDuck service accounts. (4 pages; 21,464 bytes; ~5,366 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/service-accounts-guide/llms.txt).
- [Sharing data in MotherDuck full context](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/sharing-data/llms-full.txt): Learn how to securely share data in MotherDuck (7 pages; 44,476 bytes; ~11,003 tokens). [Index](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/sharing-data/llms.txt).

## Direct pages

- [Optimizing query performance](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/query-performance): Practical techniques for tuning query performance in MotherDuck, including reading query plans, reducing data transfer, and choosing the right Duckling size.
- [Running Dual Execution (or hybrid) queries](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/running-hybrid-queries): Query local and cloud data together using MotherDuck's Dual Execution hybrid query engine.
- [How-to guides](https://motherduck.com/docs/key-tasks/how-to-guides): Step-by-step guides for connecting to MotherDuck, loading data, sharing databases, managing organizations, and using AI features.