Feature request: DuckDB extension

[yutannihilation]

Since DuckDB provides parser extension API, I'm wondering if it's possible to make ggsql syntax available within DuckDB.

e.g., https://duckdb.org/community_extensions/extensions/psql

Unfortunately, this is currently C++ only API. I think their plan is to eventually expose this API to C API, which means also available from Rust via duckdb-rs, but I don't know when it happens (Probably after v1.6). Also, I'm not sure how hard the build would be.

I'm not sure if this is even possible, but visualization is what I really want when I use DuckDB!

[eitsupi]

Personally, I'd love to be able to use ggsql (with vl-convert?) to replace youplot.
https://duckdb.org/docs/stable/guides/data_viewers/youplot

[georgestagg]

I'd love to be able to use ggsql (with vl-convert?)

This should pretty much work, though could probably be nicer if we could pipe directly to vl-convert.

ggsql exec \
  'SELECT * FROM ggsql:penguins VISUALISE bill_len AS x, bill_dep AS y, species AS color DRAW point' \
  > spec.json && vl-convert vl2png -i spec.json -o ./out.png

[thomasp85]

We are continuously discussing this but currently we are erring towards no. We do not want to tie ourselves too close to DuckDB, and it is also not apparent how to return a visualisation from within DuckDB.

But I'll leave it open for now

[yutannihilation]

Thanks for considering this seriously! I'm fine with your decision, but let me clarify a bit.

We do not want to tie ourselves too close to DuckDB,

I don't think making ggsql syntax also available on DuckDB mean tying it to DuckDB. It just adds an casual option to use ggsql.

it is also not apparent how to return a visualisation from within DuckDB.

You can simply open a web browser to show a vega visualization. Like duckdb-ui, I believe it's totally valid to open a web browser from DuckDB.

[thomasp85]

hmm... that may be a way forward

As I said, we do entertain the idea and want to meet users where they are

[eitsupi]

Please note that there are existing community extensions.
Like https://github.com/nkwork9999/miniplot

[joelostblom]

I have also found myself sitting in the duckdb CLI and wishing for a way to quickly visualize something without switching contexts. I think opening a browser tab is a reasonable way to achieve this (some type of inline viz would be cool, but brings on a totally different set of challenges). Personally, this is the same workflow I have when using IPython for some quick computation together with Altair to show charts in a browser tab.

In Altair, we implemented support for this via a browser "renderer" and the corresponding PR has some discussion which I'm linking here in case you find any of it to be helpful.

[thomasp85]

As you all can see I've started a repo for exactly this