To install core DuckDB extensions, use the INSTALL command. For example:

INSTALL httpfs;

This installs the extension from the default repository (core).

Extension Repositories

By default, DuckDB extensions are installed from a single repository containing extensions built and signed by the core DuckDB team. This ensures the stability and security of the core set of extensions. These extensions live in the default core repository, which points to http://extensions.duckdb.org.

Besides the core repository, DuckDB also supports installing extensions from other repositories. For example, the core_nightly repository contains nightly builds for core extensions that are built for the latest stable release of DuckDB. This allows users to try out new features in extensions before they are officially published.

Installing Extensions from Different Repositories

To install extensions from the default repository (core), run:

INSTALL httpfs;

To explicitly install an extension from the core repository, run:

INSTALL httpfs FROM core;
-- or
INSTALL httpfs FROM 'http://extensions.duckdb.org';

To install an extension from the core nightly repository:

INSTALL spatial FROM core_nightly;
-- or
INSTALL spatial FROM 'http://nightly-extensions.duckdb.org';

To install an extension from a custom repository:

INSTALL ⟨custom_extension⟩ FROM 'https://my-custom-extension-repository';

Alternatively, the custom_extension_repository setting can be used to change the default repository used by DuckDB:

SET custom_extension_repository = 'http://nightly-extensions.duckdb.org';

DuckDB contains the following predefined repositories:

Working with Multiple Repositories

When working with extensions from different repositories, especially mixing core and core_nightly, it is important to know the origins and version of the different extensions. For this reason, DuckDB keeps track of this in the extension installation metadata. For example:

INSTALL httpfs FROM core;
INSTALL aws FROM core_nightly;
SELECT extension_name, extension_version, installed_from, install_mode
FROM duckdb_extensions();

This outputs:

Switching between Repositories

To switch repositories for an extension, use the FORCE INSTALL command. For example, if you have installed httpfs from core_nightly but would like to switch to core, run:

FORCE INSTALL httpfs FROM core;

Force Installing to Upgrade Extensions

When DuckDB installs an extension, it is copied to a local directory to be cached and avoid future network traffic. Any subsequent calls to INSTALL ⟨extension_name⟩ will use the local version instead of downloading the extension again. To force re-downloading the extension, run:

FORCE INSTALL extension_name;

Force installing can also be used to overwrite an extension with an extension of the same name from another repository,

For example, first, spatial is installed from the core repository:

INSTALL spatial;

Then, to overwrite this installation with the spatial extension from the core_nightly repository:

FORCE INSTALL spatial FROM core_nightly;

Installing Extensions through Client APIs

For many clients, using SQL to load and install extensions is the preferred method. However, some clients have a dedicated API to install and load extensions. For example, the Python client, has dedicated install_extension(name: str) and load_extension(name: str) methods. For more details on a specific client API, refer to the Client API documentation

Installation Location

By default, extensions are installed under the user's home directory:

~/.duckdb/extensions/⟨duckdb_version⟩/⟨platform_name⟩/

For stable DuckDB releases, the ⟨duckdb_version⟩ will be equal to the version tag of that release. For nightly DuckDB builds, it will be equal to the short git hash of the build. So for example, the extensions for DuckDB version v0.10.3 on macOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon) are installed to ~/.duckdb/extensions/v0.10.3/osx_arm64/. An example installation path for a nightly DuckDB build could be ~/.duckdb/extensions/fc2e4b26a6/linux_amd64_gcc4.

To change the default location where DuckDB stores its extensions, use the extension_directory configuration option:

SET extension_directory = '/path/to/your/extension/directory';

Note that setting the value of the home_directory configuration option has no effect on the location of the extensions.

Uninstalling Extensions

Currently, DuckDB does not provide a command to uninstall extensions. To uninstall an extension, navigate to the extension's Installation Location and remove its .duckdb_extension binary file: For example:

rm ~/.duckdb/extensions/v1.2.1/osx_arm64/excel.duckdb_extension

Sharing Extensions between Clients

The shared installation location allows extensions to be shared between the client APIs of the same DuckDB version, as long as they share the same platform or ABI. For example, if an extension is installed with version 1.2.1 of the CLI client on macOS, it is available from the Python, R, etc. client libraries provided that they have access to the user's home directory and use DuckDB version 1.2.1.

Limitations

DuckDB's extension mechanism has the following limitations:

• Once loaded, an extension cannot be reinstalled.
• Extensions cannot be unloaded.