Getting Started
Ways to Access Duck
Choose the right interaction mode for users, builders, and operators.
Duck supports multiple interaction modes because the same governed platform serves end users, builders, and operators.
Access Modes
| Access Mode | Best For | Typical User | When To Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Query surfaces | Guided product experiences, dashboards, and discovery | Business users and analysts | When you need low-level API or CLI control |
| SQL, BI, and programmatic access | Familiar query tooling and automation | Analysts, BI tools, and services | When the problem is really about product UX or platform config |
| Builder workflows | Models, assets, notebooks, metrics, and products | Data builders and analytics engineers | When you only need to query trusted outputs |
| Operator and runtime access | Auth, storage, networking, and compute posture | Platform operators and admins | When you are not responsible for deployment or runtime safety |
| Execution topology | Worker isolation and remote routing strategy | Operators planning scale or isolation | When local execution already matches the workload |
Read Distributed Compute before rollout.
Decision Guide
| Need | Recommended path |
|---|---|
| Reach trusted data quickly | Query surfaces |
| Build reusable products | Builder workflows |
| Manage policy and runtime posture | Operator and runtime access |
| Isolate or scale execution | Execution topology and remote compute |