CREATE DATABASE

The CREATE DATABASE statement creates a new MotherDuck database. You can also use it to:

• Create a MotherDuck database from a local DuckDB database.
• Create a MotherDuck database from another MotherDuck database or share via zero-copy clone (without physically copying data).

Copy to local database

To copy a MotherDuck database to a local database, use the COPY FROM DATABASE statement.

Zero-copy clone

When the source is another MotherDuck database or a share, CREATE DATABASE ... FROM performs a zero-copy clone. The command completes almost instantly because no data is physically duplicated. When the source is a local file, data is physically copied to MotherDuck.

Syntax

CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] DATABASE [ IF NOT EXISTS ] <database name>
-- If the source is left empty, the database will be created
-- using the current database in use as source.
[ 
    FROM <database name> |
    FROM '<local/file/path.db>' |
    FROM 'md:_share/...' |
    FROM CURRENT_DATABASE() -- Important: this command does not work with attached shares
];

You can also pass the name of an attached share or a share URL as the database name, for example CREATE DATABASE FROM my_share or CREATE DATABASE FROM 'md:_share/...'.

If the database name already exists, the statement returns an error unless you specify IF NOT EXISTS. Similar to DuckDB table name conventions, database names that start with a number or contain special characters must be double-quoted when used. Example: CREATE DATABASE "123db"

Creating a database does not change the active database. Run USE DATABASE <database name> to switch.

Example Usage

CREATE OR REPLACE DATABASE ducks;     -- if ducks exists, it will be replaced with an empty database
CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS ducks_db;  -- no-op if ducks_db already exists

To copy an entire database from your local DuckDB instance into MotherDuck:

USE ducks_db;
CREATE DATABASE ducks FROM CURRENT_DATABASE();
-- Or alternatively:
CREATE OR REPLACE DATABASE ducks FROM ducks_db;

To zero-copy clone a database that is already attached in MotherDuck:

CREATE DATABASE cloud_db FROM another_cloud_db;

To upload a local DuckDB database file:

CREATE DATABASE flying_ducks FROM './databases/local_ducks.db';

To upload an attached local DuckDB database:

ATTACH './databases/local_ducks.db';
CREATE DATABASE flying_ducks FROM local_ducks;