# Analytical databases as a data catalogue (DuckDB, PostgreSQL)

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/duckdb-catalog/  
OnCo record `duckdb-catalog` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

DuckDB is an in-process analytical database that queries Parquet files with SQL; PostgreSQL is the standard client-server database; either can hold the metadata spine that joins patients, specimens and assays.

## Summary

DuckDB is an open-source column-oriented relational database designed for high performance on analytical queries in embedded configurations (Wikipedia); PostgreSQL is a free relational database emphasising extensibility and SQL compliance (Wikipedia). A research data layer typically keeps the large arrays in HDF5, Zarr or Parquet and a small catalogue in one of these, modelling the hierarchy patient to specimen to assay with provenance on every row so that a query can say which files went into a result.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: DuckDB; PostgreSQL; Postgres; metadata catalogue; data catalogue; queryable metadata spine; Patient to Specimen to Assay hierarchy
- Tags: cansim-terms

## Notes

- Listed in the CanSim terms map 1.0.0 (docs/onco/terms.json, generated 2026-09-24), CC BY 4.0, attribution: CanSim project, an open, public-data-first cancer foundation-model programme; CanSim page path /terms/duckdb.

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDB
- Wikipedia: PostgreSQL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostgreSQL
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDB

## Connected records

- terms: [Array and table formats: HDF5, Zarr, OME-Zarr, Parquet](https://onco.cc/terms/hdf5-zarr-parquet/), [Cancer AI vocabulary (CanSim terms map)](https://onco.cc/terms/cancer-ai-vocabulary/), [Provenance fields for research data](https://onco.cc/terms/provenance-fields/), [TCGA barcode](https://onco.cc/terms/tcga-barcode/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/duckdb-catalog.json