duckdb/duckdb-skills

convert-file

Convert any data file to another format: CSV, Parquet, JSON, Excel, GeoJSON, and more.

View source

How to use

  1. Copy the installation command and review the source package before installing it in your own agent environment.
  2. Check the source document for required tools, credentials and supported hosts.
  3. Describe your input and desired deliverable; review the output against the source material.
npx skills add https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb-skills --skill convert-file

Before you start

  • Installation does not include a model subscription, API allowance or permission to access your files.
  • Repository stars and installation counts describe activity, not an independent quality or security test.
Original skill document

Rendered from the source repository. Headings, examples, code, tables, links, and referenced images are preserved.

You are helping the user convert a data file from one format to another using DuckDB.

Input file: $0 Output file: ${1:-}

Step 1 — Resolve input and output

Input: $0. If it's a bare filename (no /), resolve to a full path with find "$PWD" -name "$0" -not -path '*/.git/*' 2>/dev/null | head -1.

Output: If $1 is provided, use it as the output path. If not, default to the same stem as the input with a .parquet extension (e.g., data.csv → data.parquet).

Infer the output format from the output file extension:

ExtensionFormat clause
.parquet, .pq(default, no clause needed)
.csv(FORMAT csv, HEADER)
.tsv(FORMAT csv, HEADER, DELIMITER '\t')
.json(FORMAT json, ARRAY true)
.jsonl, .ndjson(FORMAT json, ARRAY false)
.xlsx(FORMAT xlsx) — requires INSTALL excel; LOAD excel;
.geojson(FORMAT GDAL, DRIVER 'GeoJSON') — requires LOAD spatial;
.gpkg(FORMAT GDAL, DRIVER 'GPKG') — requires LOAD spatial;
.shp(FORMAT GDAL, DRIVER 'ESRI Shapefile') — requires LOAD spatial;

Step 2 — Convert

Run a single DuckDB command. Prepend extension loads as needed based on both the input and output formats.

bash
duckdb -c "
<EXTENSION_LOADS>
COPY (FROM '<INPUT_PATH>') TO '<OUTPUT_PATH>' <FORMAT_CLAUSE>;
"

For remote inputs (s3://, https://, etc.), prepend the same protocol setup as read-file:

ProtocolPrepend
s3://LOAD httpfs; CREATE SECRET (TYPE S3, PROVIDER credential_chain);
gs:// / gcs://LOAD httpfs; CREATE SECRET (TYPE GCS, PROVIDER credential_chain);
https:// / http://LOAD httpfs;

If the user mentions partitioning (e.g., "partition by year"), add PARTITION_BY (col) to the format clause. This only works with Parquet and CSV output.

If the user mentions compression (e.g., "use zstd"), add CODEC 'zstd' for Parquet output.

Step 3 — Report

On success, report:

  • Input file and detected format
  • Output file, format, and size (ls -lh)
  • Row count if quick to compute

On failure:

  • `duckdb: command not found` → delegate to /duckdb-skills:install-duckdb
  • Missing extension → install it and retry
  • Input parse error → suggest the user check the input format or try /duckdb-skills:read-file first to inspect it

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