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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/vortex-data/vortex/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Vortex is a core extension shipped with DuckDB, available from DuckDB 1.4.2 and later on Linux and macOS (amd64, arm64). No separate installation step is needed beyond loading the extension.

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Setup

Install and load the extension inside a DuckDB session: 
INSTALL vortex;
LOAD vortex;

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Reading Vortex files

Use the read_vortex table function to query a .vortex file: 
SELECT * FROM read_vortex('data.vortex');
Filters and projections are pushed down into Vortex, so only the columns and rows needed by the query are read and decompressed: 
SELECT name, age
FROM read_vortex('data.vortex')
WHERE age > 30;
Direct file path syntax (SELECT * FROM 'data.vortex') is coming in an upcoming DuckDB release. For now, use read_vortex(...).

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Writing Vortex files

Export data to Vortex using the COPY statement. The FORMAT vortex clause is required — without it, DuckDB defaults to CSV: 
COPY (SELECT * FROM my_table) TO 'output.vortex' (FORMAT vortex);

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Extension options

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vortex_filesystem

Controls which filesystem implementation is used for reading and writing Vortex files.
ValueDescription
'vortex' (default)Uses Vortex’s built-in object store filesystem. Supports file:// and s3:// schemes.
'duckdb'Uses DuckDB’s built-in filesystem, including any filesystem extensions such as httpfs.
SET vortex_filesystem = 'duckdb';
Use 'duckdb' when you need DuckDB’s filesystem extensions (for example, httpfs for HTTP or S3 access with DuckDB credential management). Use 'vortex' (the default) for direct object store access via Vortex’s own S3 integration, which reads credentials from environment variables.

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