Overview

SQLBuild uses adapters to connect to different database engines.

Adapter	Status	Install
DuckDB	Supported	included by default
MotherDuck	Supported	included by default (uses DuckDB)
Snowflake	Supported	`sqlbuild[snowflake]`
BigQuery	Supported	`sqlbuild[bigquery]`
Databricks	Supported	`sqlbuild[databricks]`
PostgreSQL	Supported	`sqlbuild[postgres]`
SQL Server	Supported	`sqlbuild[sqlserver]`
ClickHouse	Coming soon
Redshift	Coming soon
Trino	Coming soon
Spark	Coming soon
Athena	Coming soon

Set the adapter in sqlbuild_project.toml:

name = "my_project"
adapter = "duckdb"

Or override it per developer in sqlbuild_local.toml:

adapter = "duckdb"

Custom adapters

You can write your own adapter for any database engine by placing Python files under adapters/ in your project directory.

Extending a built-in adapter

The most common case is extending an existing adapter with custom behavior. Subclass the built-in adapter, set a new adapter_name, and override what you need:

# adapters/duckdb_plus.py
from sqlbuild.integrations.duckdb.client import DuckDbAdapter

class DuckDbPlusAdapter(DuckDbAdapter):
    adapter_name = "duckdb_plus"

    def connect(self, config):
        connection = super().connect(config)
        # custom setup - load extensions, set pragmas, etc.
        self.execute(connection, "SET enable_progress_bar = true")
        return connection

adapter = "duckdb_plus"

Writing an adapter from scratch

For a database engine with no built-in support, subclass BaseAdapter. It provides ANSI SQL defaults for most methods - you only need to implement connect, execute, close, and any methods where your engine differs from standard SQL:

# adapters/my_database.py
from sqlbuild.adapter.base.base_adapter import BaseAdapter

class MyDatabaseAdapter(BaseAdapter):
    adapter_name = "my_database"
    sql_analysis_dialect_name = "postgres"  # SQL dialect for validation and lineage

    def connect(self, config):
        ...

    def execute(self, connection, sql):
        ...

    def close(self, connection):
        ...

Set sql_analysis_dialect_name to the SQL dialect name that matches your engine’s SQL syntax. This enables compile-time SQL validation, column inference, column lineage, and local scenario replay for your adapter. If omitted, SQLBuild uses generic SQL parsing. SQL analysis is powered by Polyglot, a Rust reimplementation of SQLGlot supporting 32+ dialects. For full control with no inherited defaults, subclass StrictAdapter instead. Every method is abstract and must be implemented explicitly. SQLBuild raises a clear error listing any unimplemented methods.

Discovery rules

SQLBuild discovers all .py files under adapters/ recursively (excluding __init__.py and files starting with _)
Each file is scanned for classes that define a string adapter_name and subclass StrictAdapter (or any of its subclasses like BaseAdapter or a built-in adapter)
Adapter names must be unique across all adapter files - duplicates raise an error
Custom adapter names cannot shadow built-in names (duckdb, snowflake, bigquery, databricks, postgres, sqlserver)

Adapter class hierarchy

StrictAdapter          (fully abstract - all methods must be implemented)
  └── BaseAdapter      (ANSI SQL defaults - override only what differs)
        ├── DuckDbAdapter
        ├── SnowflakeAdapter
        ├── BigQueryAdapter
        ├── DatabricksAdapter
        ├── PostgresAdapter
        └── SqlServerAdapter

StrictAdapter composes four mixins that define the full adapter contract:

ConnectionMixin - connect, close, begin, commit, rollback
SchemaMixin - relation_exists, list_relations, describe_relation, ensure_schema
MaterializationMixin - create_table_as, create_view, drop, rename, swap, load_seed
DiffMixin - diff_schema, diff_rows, sample_unequal_rows, sample_side_only_rows

Getting Started

dbt Compatibility

Concepts

Python Nodes

Virtual Environments (Alpha)

Integrations

CLI Reference

Custom adapters

Extending a built-in adapter

Writing an adapter from scratch

Discovery rules

Adapter class hierarchy

​Custom adapters

​Extending a built-in adapter

​Writing an adapter from scratch

​Discovery rules

​Adapter class hierarchy

Custom adapters

Extending a built-in adapter

Writing an adapter from scratch

Discovery rules

Adapter class hierarchy