Skip to content

Versions and compatibility

SQL Cell runs DuckDB inside your browser rather than calling a server, so the DuckDB version it bundles decides what it can read. This page is the answer to “why won’t this file open” and “is that extension available yet”.

DuckDB 1.4.3
@duckdb/duckdb-wasm 1.32.0
Extensions from extensions.duckdb.org/v1.4.3/wasm_eh/
Readable storage versions 64 – 67

Check it yourself at any time — this runs in the sidebar like any other query:

SELECT version();

Which extensions exist. Extensions are built per DuckDB version and per platform. SQL Cell can only load one if a wasm_eh build exists for the version it runs. A feature working in the DuckDB CLI says nothing about whether it works here — the CLI has builds the browser does not.

Available today, and used by SQL Cell: httpfs (HTTP, S3, R2, GCS), spatial, excel, avro, iceberg, ducklake, plus the community extensions behind XML, YAML, Markdown, Power BI and the rest.

Not available in the browser at any version so far: azure (Azure Blob Storage), delta (Delta Lake), aws (the credential-chain helper — explicit keys work fine without it).

Which files open. DuckDB databases and DuckLake lakes carry a storage version. SQL Cell reads 64 to 67. A file written by a newer DuckDB refuses to attach:

Trying to read a database file with version number 68, but we can only read
versions between 64 and 67.

Storage version 68 is DuckDB 1.5. If you see this, the file is not damaged — it is simply newer than the browser build, and it will open once SQL Cell upgrades. Writing the file from DuckDB 1.4 is the workaround in the meantime.

This is the reason the public DuckLake samples at blobs.duckdb.org do not attach yet.

Plain data files are unaffected. CSV, Parquet, JSON, Excel and the rest have no storage version. This only applies to DuckDB databases and DuckLake.

SQL Cell Date DuckDB duckdb-wasm Notes
2 25 Aug 2026 1.4.3 1.32.0 Result preview and pop-out window · around 35 file formats · S3, R2 and GCS · Iceberg and DuckLake · Monaco bundled rather than loaded from a CDN · large writes in a single pass
1 19 Dec 2024 1.29.0 First submission. Never publicly released.

SQLite and DuckDB database files. sqlite_scanner has a browser build, but reading .db and .sqlite files is unreliable under WebAssembly. This is a defect rather than a missing feature — duckdb-sqlite#39, expected in DuckDB 1.5.5. Both formats will be documented here once it lands.

Ranged reads over HTTP. When a host does not expose the Content-Range header to browser JavaScript, DuckDB downloads the whole file instead of fetching only the parts it needs. The query still succeeds; it is just slower than it should be, and SQL Cell does not yet tell you when this happens.

A newer DuckDB. Moving past 1.4.3 lifts the storage version ceiling, makes the public DuckLake samples usable, and picks up whatever the SQLite fix ships in.