DuckDB has a number of configuration options that can be used to change the behavior of the system.

The configuration options can be set using either the SET statement or the PRAGMA statement. They can be reset to their original values using the RESET statement. The values of configuration options can be queried via the current_setting() scalar function or using the duckdb_settings() table function.

Examples

-- set the memory limit of the system to 10GB
SET memory_limit = '10GB';
-- configure the system to use 1 thread
SET threads TO 1;
-- enable printing of a progress bar during long-running queries
SET enable_progress_bar = true;
-- set the default null order to NULLS LAST
SET default_null_order = 'nulls_last';

-- return the current value of a specific setting
SELECT current_setting('threads') AS threads;

-- query a specific setting
SELECT *
FROM duckdb_settings()
WHERE name = 'threads';

-- show a list of all available settings
SELECT *
FROM duckdb_settings();

-- reset the memory limit of the system back to the default
RESET memory_limit;

Secrets Manager

DuckDB has a Secrets manager, which provides a unified user interface for secrets across all backends (e.g., AWS S3) that use them.

Configuration Reference

Configuration options come with different default scopes: GLOBAL and LOCAL. Below is a list of all available configuration options by scope.

Global Configuration Options

Local Configuration Options