Live connections (no sync)
Query a source directly from SQL through the live catalog, with no sync and no copy. How live connections work, what they cost, and when to use them.
Normally you get data into Databasin by syncing it: a pipeline copies rows into your lakehouse, and you query the copy. A live connection skips that step: you write SQL and Databasin queries the source directly, right then.
The Set up a live connection option carries a Beta badge. Live connections are the right tool for exploration; for anything you'll run repeatedly, syncing is faster and easier on the source.
When to use it
| Use a live connection when… | Sync instead when… |
|---|---|
| You want to look at a source right now. | The same query runs every day. |
| You're exploring, and don't know what you need. | A dashboard or report depends on it. |
| The data must be current to the second. | You need history the source doesn't keep. |
| You're deciding what's worth syncing. | The queries are heavy, or the source is rate-limited. |
Every live query hits the source, so the source's speed and rate limits are your speed and rate limits.
Where it runs
- Databasin Sail clusters host live sources, and so do Trino clusters where your environment is set up to run them.
- DuckDB and Databricks connections don't: they read the shared metastore instead of running a catalog server.
On Databasin Sail, a live source becomes a catalog of its own, named by you. Where live sources run on Trino, they appear under the shared live catalog. Both are read-only: you query them with SELECT.
Setting one up
From Integrations → Create integration, pick Set up a live connection. That takes you to your lakehouse with the Live Sources panel open. You can also get there from the SQL editor: in the Object Explorer, under Other Data Sources, open Live Sources.
Each connector in the panel shows where it stands:
- Live: already queryable.
- Make live: eligible, one click away.
- Lakehouse only: the live engine can't query this source. Hover for the reason, and sync it instead.
Turning it off
Each live row has an off switch (✕). The source disappears within about a minute. Nothing is destroyed, and you can make it live again at any time.
A federated database on Trino (a database that is its own catalog) has no off switch here; remove it through catalog management instead.
The details
Live sources on Sail covers the rest: which sources and file formats can be live, catalog naming on Sail and Trino, how a live query runs, what's sent to the source (pushdown), page budgets and rate limits, security, and what's planned.