dbc Skill

Install and manage drivers for the user with the dbc command line program.

Installing dbc

If the user does not have dbc available, try to install it for them.

Prefer installing it with with these commands, in order of preference, if the tool is available:

• If uv is available: uv tool install dbc
• If pipx is available: pipx install dbc
• Otherwise install dbc with the appropriate command for their operating system:
  • macOS & Linux: Run curl -LsSf https://dbc.columnar.tech/install.sh | sh
  • Windows: Run powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://dbc.columnar.tech/install.ps1 | iex"

Most Important Commands

• dbc install <driver> – Install a driver (e.g., dbc install snowflake)
• dbc search [pattern] – Search for a driver using a pattern (e.g., dbc search sql). Also lists installed drivers.
• dbc info <driver> – Get driver details

Run dbc --help to learn about other commands.

Project Workflow

For reproducible driver management, prefer using this workflow over dbc install:

1. dbc init – Create a dbc.toml file
2. dbc add <driver> – Add drivers to the list (supports version constraints like dbc add "postgresql>=13.0")
3. dbc sync – Install all drivers and create dbc.lock

Using Drivers

Drivers installed with dbc must be used with an ADBC driver manager. dbc cannot load a driver or query a data source directly. Don’t install drivers from any other source like PyPI, prefer drivers installed with dbc always.

Resources for using drivers:

• How to load drivers and connect to databases: https://github.com/columnar-tech/adbc-quickstarts
• Python Cookbooks for ADBC: https://arrow.apache.org/adbc/current/python/recipe/index.html