README.md

In quak: Query 'Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2' with 'DuckDB'

quak

quak provides convenient utilities for using DuckDB with datasets stored in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 (abfss://). It opens connections configured for Azure-backed Delta Lake data, registers Azure credentials as DuckDB secrets, and works with both SQL via DBI and lazy table queries via dplyr and dbplyr.

Installation

quak is not yet on CRAN. Install the development version from GitHub:

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("pedrobtz/quak")

Connect and authenticate

Start by opening an Azure-ready DuckDB connection. Then register one Azure secret on that connection.

library(quak)

conn <- az_conn()

Use a credential chain when you want DuckDB to resolve credentials itself, for example from the Azure CLI:

library(quak)

conn <- az_conn()
az_set_chain_secret(conn, chain = "cli")

Use an access token when another package obtains the token for you:

library(quak)

az_creds <- azr::DefaultCredential$new(
  scope = az_default_scope()
)

conn <- az_conn()
az_set_token_secret(conn, token = az_creds$get_token()$access_token)

Use a service principal when you want to pass the application credentials directly:

library(quak)

conn <- az_conn()
az_set_sp_secret(
  conn,
  tenant_id = Sys.getenv("AZURE_TENANT_ID"),
  client_id = Sys.getenv("AZURE_CLIENT_ID"),
  client_secret = Sys.getenv("AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET")
)

All secret helpers also accept account = "storageaccount" to scope the secret to one storage account.

Register a Delta table

Use load_delta() when you want to register a Delta table in DuckDB and query it with SQL.

library(quak)

conn <- az_conn()
az_set_chain_secret(conn, chain = "cli")

load_delta(
  conn = conn,
  url = "abfss://container@account/path/sales",
  name = "sales",
  method = "view"
)

DBI::dbGetQuery(
  conn,
  "SELECT COUNT(*) AS n, AVG(amount) AS avg_amount
   FROM sales
   WHERE amount > 100"
)

DBI::dbDisconnect(conn, shutdown = TRUE)

Use a lazy table

Use tbl_delta() when you want to work with a Delta table through dplyr/dbplyr.

library(quak)

conn <- az_conn()
az_set_chain_secret(conn, chain = "cli")

sales <- tbl_delta(conn, "abfss://container@account/path/sales")

sales |>
  dplyr::filter(amount > 100) |>
  dplyr::summarise(avg_amount = mean(amount, na.rm = TRUE)) |>
  dplyr::collect()

DBI::dbDisconnect(conn, shutdown = TRUE)

quak documentation built on June 9, 2026, 5:09 p.m.