The GizmoData Dispatch — March 2026 Edition
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The GizmoData Dispatch — March 2026 Edition
Happy March, GizmoData community! 🙋 This has been our biggest month yet. The theme? Meet your users where they are. Whether you’re a Windows shop, a Power BI team, or an enterprise security team that needs OAuth and audit trails — GizmoSQL now has you covered. Let’s get into it.
🔎 What is GizmoSQL?
New here? GizmoSQL is an open-source SQL engine that puts the speed of DuckDB behind a proper server. It uses Apache Arrow Flight SQL as its wire protocol, so data moves between the server and your tools in columnar Arrow format — no row-by-row serialization overhead. Think of it as “DuckDB as a service”: you get DuckDB’s blazing-fast analytics, but accessible over the network from any language, BI tool, or notebook that speaks JDBC, ODBC, ADBC, or Flight SQL. GizmoSQL is free and open-source (Apache 2.0), with an optional Enterprise Edition for teams that need OAuth/SSO, audit trails, and fine-grained access control.
🪟 GizmoSQL Now Runs on Windows
The number-one request from prospective customers is here: native Windows support. GizmoSQL Server and the interactive client now run on Windows x64 with a one-click MSI installer — no WSL, no Docker, no workarounds.
The installer is DigiCert EV code-signed, so your IT team won’t see SmartScreen warnings, and DuckDB extensions (ICU, Spatial, etc.) work out of the box without needing to install the VC++ Redistributable separately.
This opens the door for teams that have been waiting to evaluate GizmoSQL in Windows-native environments.
📊 Power BI Integration — From Zero to DirectQuery
We built three new components this month to bring first-class Power BI support to GizmoSQL:
GizmoSQL ODBC Driver (v1.1.2) — A from-scratch C++ driver that connects Excel, Power BI, Tableau, Python/pyodbc, and any ODBC-compatible tool to GizmoSQL. Cross-platform (macOS, Linux, Windows) and installable via Homebrew on macOS.
GizmoSQL Power BI Connector (v1.1.2) — A signed Power Query connector that shows up right in Get Data > Database > GizmoSQL. Supports DirectQuery (live queries — no data import needed), hierarchical navigation (browse databases > schemas > tables), and query folding so Power BI pushes filters, joins, and aggregations down to the server instead of pulling everything into memory.
GizmoSQL C# ADBC Driver — The deliverable required for Microsoft Power BI certification. This puts GizmoSQL on the path to sit alongside Databricks, Snowflake, and BigQuery as a certified Power BI data source.
An MSI installer bundles the ODBC driver and signed connector together — your Power BI users can be up and running in under a minute.
🔐 OAuth/SSO Everywhere
Single sign-on is no longer optional for enterprise adoption. This month we rolled out OAuth/SSO support across the entire GizmoSQL stack:
GizmoSQL Server handles the OAuth flow server-side — users authenticate in their browser, and the server exchanges the code for tokens
Every driver and adapter now supports OAuth: JDBC, ODBC, Python ADBC, C# ADBC, GizmoSQL UI, gizmosqlline, dbt, SQLMesh, SQLFrame, and Ibis
Multi-instance proxy routing lets you register a single OAuth redirect URI that serves many dynamically provisioned GizmoSQL instances — ideal for multi-tenant or auto-scaling deployments
This means your users can authenticate with Google, Okta, Azure AD, or any OIDC provider — no separate credentials to manage.
📈 OpenTelemetry Observability — Community Contributed
One of the things we’re most excited about this month is a community contribution from Summation, who built and contributed full OpenTelemetry instrumentation directly into GizmoSQL core:
Traces that follow a query from gRPC ingress through async SQL execution — plug into Datadog, Grafana Tempo, Jaeger, or any OTel-compatible backend
Metrics for active sessions, query counts, row throughput, ingest volume, and DuckDB connection utilization
Log correlation with trace and span IDs so you can jump from a log line to the full request trace
This is exactly the kind of open-source collaboration we love to see. If you’re running GizmoSQL in production, you now have production-grade visibility out of the box — and it’s there because a real production user needed it and contributed it back.
🚀 GizmoSQL Core Updates (v1.18.0 → v1.19.4)
Ten releases since the last Dispatch! Beyond the headline features above:
DuckDB v1.5.0 upgrade — native VARIANT data type and built-in GeoArrow export for GEOMETRY columns
Catalog visibility filtering (Enterprise) — JWT-based access rules automatically hide unauthorized databases from metadata queries, so users only see what they’re allowed to see
Interactive row limiting — the CLI client now fetches only the rows needed for display instead of streaming millions of rows, making ad-hoc exploration of large tables fast and responsive
Query cancellation — Ctrl+C in the client cancels the query on the server, not just locally
Cross-instance tokens for load-balanced deployments, so users don’t lose their session when routed to a different server
🖥️ GizmoSQL UI (v2.5.4)
The web-based SQL interface keeps getting better:
Windows MSI installer with code signing — one-click setup alongside GizmoSQL Server
OAuth/SSO login — same identity provider as the rest of your stack
Admin screen for managing sessions and viewing instrumentation data
Upgraded to Next.js 16 + React 19 for improved performance
📊 Grafana Plugin — Now on the Marketplace (v1.8.0)
The GizmoSQL Grafana data source plugin is now available on the Grafana Marketplace, making it easy for any Grafana user to install and connect to GizmoSQL for dashboards and alerting.
🐍 Python ADBC Driver (v1.1.3)
The adbc-driver-gizmosql package on PyPI makes connecting from Python simple:
OAuth/SSO with a single parameter change
DDL/DML auto-detection —
cursor.execute("CREATE TABLE ...")just works, no special method neededBulk ingest for loading millions of rows with automatic schema inference
Supports Python 3.10 through 3.14
☕ JDBC Driver (v1.5.1)
OAuth/SSO via OIDC Authorization Code + PKCE
Reduced memory footprint — lower per-instance overhead for high-concurrency workloads
Clean session lifecycle — connections now properly close server-side sessions on disconnect
🧩 Adapter Ecosystem
All Python adapters have migrated to adbc-driver-gizmosql and now support OAuth/SSO, making it easy to plug GizmoSQL into your existing data stack:
ibis-gizmosql (v1.0.1) — Ibis backend with local file loading via bulk ingest and TPC-H support
dbt-gizmosql (v1.11.8) — dbt adapter with OAuth/SSO
sqlmesh-gizmosql (v0.2.0) — SQLMesh adapter with OAuth/SSO
sqlframe-gizmosql (v1.1.0) — PySpark-compatible interface with OAuth/SSO
gizmosqlline — SQLLine CLI with OAuth/SSO and JDBC v1.5.0
🌐 Community & Contributions
xorq now includes a GizmoSQL backend — query DuckDB over Arrow Flight SQL from the xorq data orchestration framework (PR #1586)
ADBC Quickstarts — GizmoSQL is now featured as a Flight SQL server option in the adbc-quickstarts project by Columnar Tech, with examples across Python, Go, Java, C++, Rust, and R
Summation contributed OpenTelemetry observability to GizmoSQL core
Fabricent joined as a GizmoData Technology Partner
📝 From the Blog
“Freeing the Individuals from the Matrix: How GizmoSQL Makes Your Database AI-Agent Ready” — guest post by Chris Harrison exploring AI-powered SQL agents backed by GizmoSQL, DuckDB, and Claude
GizmoSQL Windows release video now on the homepage
Power BI Connector announcement on the news page
Homepage revamp with a benchmark carousel, new Customers page, and refreshed messaging
1TB TPC-H benchmark updated: 108.88 seconds
🏢 GizmoSQL Enterprise Edition
Enterprise Edition gives production teams the governance and observability they need:
Catalog visibility filtering — users only see the databases they’re authorized to access
DuckLake-backed session auditing — centralized telemetry across multiple GizmoSQL instances
Multi-instance OAuth routing — single redirect URI for auto-scaling deployments
KILL SESSION — terminate active sessions via SQL
Pricing:
Core Edition: Free forever (Apache 2.0)
Enterprise Edition: $500/month per server
Enterprise+: Custom pricing for volume discounts and SLAs
☁️ Coming Soon: GizmoData Cloud Data Platform
The managed GizmoSQL platform continues to take shape — the Nexus API now supports per-instance license edition, instrumentation, and OAuth configuration. More to share soon.
💡 Looking Ahead
Power BI certification — on the path to becoming a Microsoft-certified Power BI connector
Shaper — SQL API endpoints, fullscreen dashboard cards, read-only mode, and AI-powered features in development
Continued GizmoEdge and DuckLake integration work
That’s a wrap for March 2026 — our biggest month yet! Questions, feedback, or want a demo? We’d love to hear from you. 🚀