Question 1

Does MySQL change data capture work into MotherDuck?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Once row based binary logging is enabled and the Polytomic user has replication privileges, each run consumes committed changes from the binary log rather than rescanning tables. Those changes load into MotherDuck through its Parquet staging path, then merge against the destination table, so updates and deletes are applied properly instead of being appended as new rows.

Question 2

What should I watch out for operationally?

Accepted Answer

Binary log retention, above everything else. Capture resumes from a recorded position and GTIDs make that resumption clean, but only if the logs covering that position still exist. If a sync is paused or fails for longer than your retention window, the position is gone and a full resync is required. Set retention comfortably longer than any outage you would want to survive without one.

Question 3

How do MySQL JSON columns land in DuckDB?

Accepted Answer

As queryable JSON values on the MotherDuck side, so nothing is lost in transit. DuckDB handles JSON natively, which means you can extract fields in SQL without an unpacking step first. If the shape is stable and you query it often, materializing the fields you care about into typed columns in MotherDuck is worth doing once rather than parsing on every query.

Question 4

Can MotherDuck write back into MySQL?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with create, update, create or update, and replace modes. The usual pattern is computing something in MotherDuck that MySQL has no cheap way to calculate, such as a rolling aggregate or a score across joined data, then writing it back onto a table the application reads. MotherDuck structured values generally arrive as MySQL JSON rather than as separate columns.

Connect MotherDuck with MySQL

Connect MotherDuck and MySQL with Polytomic

Binary log change capture

Clean resumption after a gap

Reporting off the app database

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Connect MotherDuck in Polytomic

Connect MySQL in Polytomic

Create a sync between MotherDuck and MySQL

Map fields and enable the sync

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