---
title: " DuckDB Meets
Excel: xlwings Lite Data Tools"   
slug: duckdb-meets-excel-xlwings-lite-data-tools
date_published: 2026-01-09T06:27:00.000Z
original_url: https://www.tigzig.com/post/duckdb-meets-excel-xlwings-lite-data-tools
source: fresh
processed_at: 2026-01-09T06:27:00.000Z
---

# DuckDB Meets Excel: xlwings Lite Data Tools

xlwings Lite runs Python in Excel - you get DuckDB, Pandas, ML libraries right inside Excel. The constraint: it can't access your local file system due to browser restrictions.

That's a problem for large datasets. You have a 1.2 GB DuckDB file on GitHub. Or a 1.5 GB CSV from a client. Or a SQLite database or a JSON dump....

xlwings Lite can process them - but how do you get them in?

I built two tools to solve this.

## Tool 1: DuckIt - File Converter & Hosting

Drop CSV files, get back DuckDB or Parquet with shareable link. Paste that link into xlwings Lite, start querying. Tested with 1.5 GB CSVs, 10M+ records. Or upload existing DuckDB/Parquet for instant sharing.

![DuckIt Diagram](../images/blog/duckitDiagram.png)

## Tool 2: xlwings Lite Data Importer

Pulls files from URLs directly into Excel. Paste URL, click import. Works with DuckIt, GitHub, Google Drive, Dropbox.

Handles DuckDB, SQLite, CSV, Parquet, JSON. Auto-detects file type, loads directly into DuckDB. Parquet remains as is. Tested up to 1.2 GB DuckDB download, 20M+ records.

![xlwings Downloader](../images/blog/xlwingsDownloader.png)

## Example Workflow

Client sends 1 GB CSV. Upload to DuckIt  get DuckDB link  paste in Excel  query with SQL. No email attachments, no local file management.

![DuckIt xlwings](../images/blog/duckitXlwings.png)

## Technical Details

DuckIt does CSV-to-Parquet conversion in-browser, backend creates DuckDB with time-limited signed URLs. Importer runs in xlwings Lite with CORS bypass via Cloudflare Worker. Multi-level file type detection (URL  header  magic bytes).

Both tools open source. Full technical details, how-to, and live demo files at links below.

## Privacy Notice

Files stored on my server with time-limited signed URLs. API calls logged. Directory access is token authenticated. Free service, no guarantees. Deploy your own for production use.

## Links

- **DuckIt:** [tigzig.com/duckit-xlwings](https://tigzig.com/duckit-xlwings)
- **xlwings Lite Data Importer:** [Download Link](https://www.tigzig.com/xlwings-data-tools)

Built with xlwings Lite by [Felix Zumstein](https://www.linkedin.com/in/felix-zumstein/)


xlwings Lite official site: [lite.xlwings.org](https://lite.xlwings.org)