Flights functions

Preview

During Preview, please do not run regulated or sensitive data (such as ePHI or payment card data) through Flights. See the Flights page for details.

SQL table functions for managing Flights, MotherDuck's scheduled Python execution. Use these functions from any MotherDuck client (DuckDB CLI, BI tool, or another Flight) to create, schedule, list, and monitor Flights without leaving SQL.

The MCP server exposes the same operations to AI agents through create_flight, list_flights, run_flight, and so on. The MCP and SQL surfaces use slightly different parameter names — see each function page for the details, or read the Flights MCP reference for the agent-facing tools.

note

These functions execute server-side on MotherDuck. They are not available on local-only DuckDB connections.

A minimal end-to-end Flight from SQL:

-- Create the Flight
SELECT flight_id, current_version
FROM MD_CREATE_FLIGHT(
    name := 'heartbeat',
    source_code := $$
import duckdb

def main():
    con = duckdb.connect("md:")
    con.execute("CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS flights_demo")
    print("ok")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()
$$,
    requirements_txt := 'duckdb==1.5.3'
);

-- Trigger an on-demand run
CALL MD_RUN_FLIGHT(flight_id := '<flight_id>');

-- Inspect the run
SELECT run_number, status, created_at
FROM MD_LIST_FLIGHT_RUNS(flight_id := '<flight_id>')
ORDER BY run_number DESC LIMIT 1;

Available functions

MD_CREATE_FLIGHT

Create a new Flight in your MotherDuck account.

MD_UPDATE_FLIGHT

Update a Flight's source code, requirements, config, token, secrets, run timeout, name, or schedule.

MD_DELETE_FLIGHT

Delete a Flight, its versions, runs, and logs.

MD_GET_FLIGHT

Fetch the summary metadata for a single Flight.

MD_GET_FLIGHT_VERSION

Fetch the full content (source, requirements, config, token, secrets) for a specific Flight version.

MD_LIST_FLIGHTS

List Flights with summary metadata.

MD_LIST_FLIGHT_VERSIONS

List the version history of a Flight.

MD_RUN_FLIGHT

Trigger an on-demand execution of a Flight using its current version.

MD_LIST_FLIGHT_RUNS

List the execution history of a Flight, newest first.

MD_GET_FLIGHT_RUN

Fetch a single run of a Flight by its run number.

MD_GET_FLIGHT_LOGS

Read the stdout and stderr captured during a Flight run, one row per log line.

MD_CANCEL_FLIGHT_RUN

Cancel an in-progress Flight run.