---
title: "DuckDB in the Cloud, Built for AI at Scale | MotherDuck"
description: "MotherDuck is the cloud DuckDB company: the same DuckDB you know as serverless infrastructure, with scale, shared live data, and AI-ready agent access."
canonical: "https://motherduck.com/product/duckdb-users/"
---

The cloud DuckDB company

# Same DuckDB. Way more duck.

## The same DuckDB, running as serverless infrastructure in the cloud: plug AI agents straight in over MCP, share live data, and scale across a million isolated ducklings instead of one laptop.

[Get Started](https://auth.motherduck.com/authorize?app_source=web&response_type=code&client_id=bza3KWQpxRAFlTlRFXUo29AOg9xD7zcp&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.motherduck.com%2F&state=STATE&auth_flow=signup&screen_hint=signup&ext-ph_distinct_id=f0a5e68e-91a8-41db-a357-444572291bc6)

LEARN MORE

Why MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDBWhy MotherDuck over DuckDB

## Your data, agent-ready

Business context, MCP-native access, and live visuals — everything an agent needs to answer well.

### SHOW THE ANSWER

Dives turn live data into interactive visuals people can filter, explore, and share.

### ADD BUSINESS CONTEXT

Guides give people and AI agents the context behind your metrics, so the answer is easier to understand and trust.

### ASK IN PLAIN ENGLISH

By connecting the MotherDuck MCP to the agent of your choice, the answer to any question inside the data is at your fingertips - no SQL required!

## DuckDB in production, without the rebuild

Turn one-off analysis into reliable workflows that run for your team—not just on your laptop.

### DEVELOP ON DUCKDB, RUN IT IN THE CLOUD

Explore and test in DuckDB, then run proven work in MotherDuck without rebuilding it in another warehouse.

### USE FLIGHTS TO KEEP IT CURRENT

Run scheduled Python jobs inside MotherDuck, so production data stays current without manual reruns.

### SCALE AS DEMAND GROWS

Use 5 different Duckling sizes and read scaling as more data and queries arrive.

## Bring more people into the analysis

MotherDuck gives colleagues, leadership, and customers a way to work from your DuckDB data—not a chain of exported files.

### SHARE LIVE DATA

Create database shares for the people who need them. Keep everyone connected to current data instead of passing around exports.

### ISOLATED COMPUTE FOR EVERY USER

With isolated DuckDB instances, your whole team can work concurrently, without getting in one another’s way.

## Features

[Serverless DuckDBRun DuckDB SQL analytics in a serverless cloud data warehouse. Dual execution runs query stages on your laptop, in the cloud, or across both, and zero-copy shares let teammates query the same data.More Details](/product/)
[MCP for AI agentsConnect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible agent to MotherDuck. Natural-language questions come back as accurate, traceable SQL, running in sandboxed compute.More Details](/product/mcp-server/)
[Share business contextGuides give AI agents shared business context on every query, so natural-language answers stay accurate for the people who know the business.More Details](/docs/key-tasks/guides/)
[Live data visualizationsDives are live, interactive visualizations built by an AI agent or with SQL — filter and drill down on live data, share them, or embed them in your app.More Details](/product/dives/)
[Scheduled data pipelinesFlights are scheduled Python data pipelines that run inside MotherDuck. Describe a source and your agent writes, deploys, and schedules the ingestion job.More Details](/product/flights/)
[Isolated computeHypertenancy gives each user, customer, or AI agent an isolated DuckDB instance — high concurrency with no shared clusters or noisy neighbors, plus up to 16 read-scaling replicas.More Details](/product/hypertenancy/)

## Architecture

Managed DuckDB-in-the-cloud

## Ecosystem

Modern Duck Stack

### CLOUD DATA WAREHOUSE

### Sources

### AI Agents

[IngestionMORE INFO](/ecosystem/?category=Ingestion)[Business IntelligenceMORE INFO](/ecosystem/?category=Business+Intelligence)[Reverse ETLMORE INFO](/ecosystem/?category=Reverse+ETL)[TransformationMORE INFO](/ecosystem/?category=Transformation)[Data Science & AIMORE INFO](/ecosystem/?category=Data+Science+%26+AI)
[OrchestrationMORE INFO](/ecosystem/?category=Orchestration)
[Data QualityMORE INFO](/ecosystem/?category=Data+Quality)

## Case Studies

## FAQS

### Why should DuckDB users choose MotherDuck?
MotherDuck is the cloud DuckDB company: the same DuckDB you already know, run as serverless cloud infrastructure. You keep the engine and your SQL, and gain scale beyond one machine, live shared data, and the pieces to build AI on top—agent access over MCP, Guides, Dives, and Flights.

### Can I build AI on my DuckDB data?
Yes. MotherDuck connects trusted DuckDB data to MCP-compatible agents, adds business context with Guides so agents interpret metrics consistently, and turns answers into live, interactive visuals with Dives.

### How do AI agents connect to MotherDuck?
Through the MotherDuck MCP server. Connect the agent of your choice and it can answer questions directly from your live data—no SQL required.

### What are Guides?
Guides add shared business context to data questions. They help people and AI agents interpret metrics consistently instead of relying on an undocumented definition of the data.

### What are Dives?
Dives are live, interactive data visualizations built with SQL or an AI agent. People can filter, drill into, share, and embed the results while staying connected to live data.

### What are Flights?
Flights are scheduled Python data pipelines that run inside MotherDuck. They turn one-off ingestion or transformation work into repeatable jobs that keep data current.

### What is the difference between DuckDB and MotherDuck?
DuckDB is an open-source analytical database commonly used locally and in-process. MotherDuck runs that same engine as serverless cloud infrastructure—adding shared live data, scheduled workflows, isolated compute for concurrent users, agent access over MCP, and datasets larger than a local machine can handle.

### Can I run DuckDB in the cloud?
Yes. MotherDuck is the managed cloud environment built on DuckDB. Keep developing locally, then run shared, production, and AI workloads in the cloud when the work grows beyond one machine.

### Can I use my existing DuckDB SQL and code with MotherDuck?
MotherDuck is built on DuckDB, so existing SQL, scripts, and supported client libraries remain the starting point. See the setup documentation for exact connection and client details.

### How does MotherDuck handle data that does not fit in laptop memory?
MotherDuck provides cloud storage and compute beyond the resources available on a laptop, with five Duckling sizes and read scaling as data and queries grow. This lets you query larger datasets without rebuilding the analysis in another warehouse.

### Can MotherDuck query S3 or GCS data?
Yes. MotherDuck can query data in S3, GCS, and MotherDuck-managed storage. See the integration documentation for supported formats and setup details.

### When should I move from local DuckDB to MotherDuck?
Move when the work outgrows one machine: sharing results and live data with your team, giving AI agents governed access to your data, keeping data current with scheduled jobs, querying larger datasets, or supporting concurrent users.

## Get in Touch

We’d love to learn more about what you’re building. A Product Expert will fly right back to you with resources to help you take flight.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA.

Submit