DuckDB Parquet Viewer Options Compared: CLI, UI, and Browser

Four ways to view a Parquet file with DuckDB

"DuckDB viewer" usually means one of four different things, and which one you want depends on whether you're willing to install anything and whether you need to run SQL or just want to eyeball the data.

1. The DuckDB CLI

The fastest option if DuckDB is already installed. No table creation, no import step — DuckDB treats the file path as a table reference directly:

duckdb -c "DESCRIBE SELECT * FROM 'orders.parquet'"
duckdb -c "SELECT * FROM 'orders.parquet' LIMIT 20"
duckdb -c "SUMMARIZE SELECT * FROM 'orders.parquet'"

SUMMARIZE is worth knowing specifically for viewing purposes — it returns per-column min, max, approximate distinct count and null percentage in one call, which is often more useful than scrolling rows when you're getting oriented in an unfamiliar file.

2. duckdb -ui — the local web interface

Recent DuckDB versions ship a built-in web UI:

duckdb -ui

This opens a local browser tab with a schema tree, a SQL editor and a results grid — closer to a desktop database client than the CLI, but still running entirely on your machine with no server to configure. It's the right choice when you want to click through a schema and scroll results rather than type every query, but still want the full DuckDB SQL dialect available.

3. Python + DuckDB

For viewing inside a notebook or existing analysis:

import duckdb

duckdb.sql("SELECT * FROM 'orders.parquet' LIMIT 20").show()
duckdb.sql("DESCRIBE SELECT * FROM 'orders.parquet'").show()

Useful mainly when the viewing step is one line in a longer script — not worth the overhead if all you want is a look at the file.

4. Browser-based DuckDB (no install)

DuckDB compiles to WebAssembly, which is what powers browser tools like the SQL Workbench and Parquet Viewer on this site. You get the DuckDB engine and dialect with zero install, on a locked-down laptop, a Chromebook, or someone else's machine — drop a file in and query it immediately, or just browse the schema and a row sample without writing SQL. Because it's WASM running client-side, files never get uploaded anywhere, which matters for anything you can't put on a random SaaS tool.

Which one to reach for

• Already have DuckDB installed, need one quick answer → CLI one-liner.
• Exploring an unfamiliar file interactively, want to click around → duckdb -ui.
• Viewing is a step in a larger script or notebook → Python + duckdb.
• No install, shared machine, or just want a fast look → the browser-based viewer, or SQL Workbench once you need joins or aggregates across multiple files.

All four ultimately use the same query engine and give consistent results — the choice is about environment and workflow, not correctness. If you're comparing schemas across two files rather than viewing one, the Parquet Diff tool is the more direct route than any of the above.