Rusty Conover
Data infrastructure engineer and founder of Query.Farm. Building DuckDB extensions, scaling data platforms, and writing about what I learn along the way.
Recent Activity
View all →Rusty focused on join elimination optimization in DuckDB, tackling a feature to improve query performance when joins can be safely removed based on primary key and uniqueness constraints.
Rusty focused on optimizing DISTINCT ON query handling in DuckDB, specifically targeting hash join deduplication filters. Work was spread across both his personal fork and the main DuckDB repository.
Rusty had a productive day spanning multiple projects, with a focus on DuckDB enhancements and community contributions.
GeoSilo vs GeoArrow + Byte Stream Split: Two Approaches to Geometry Compression
A detailed comparison of GeoSilo's delta-integer encoding against GeoArrow's columnar float64 layout with Parquet BYTE_STREAM_SPLIT, covering compression ratios, precision tradeoffs, and when each approach wins.
VGI Injector: A Tiny HTTPS Download-and-Execute Binary in Zig
I needed a self-contained binary that downloads a program over HTTPS and exec's it — small enough to run in a FROM scratch container with nothing else. Go and Rust couldn't get small enough. Zig could.
TIME Data Type Compatibility Across Databases
A survey of the TIME data type across 14 databases, comparing supported ranges, maximum values, and whether the special value 24:00:00 is accepted.
Telemetry for DuckDB Extensions Without the Pain
I open-sourced the telemetry client I use across Query.Farm's DuckDB extensions. It's two files, one function call, and it only collects platform and version info.
Releasing vgi-rpc: An RPC Framework Built on Apache Arrow
I built an RPC framework for Python that uses Apache Arrow IPC as the wire format and Python Protocol classes as the interface definition. No .proto files, no codegen — just type annotations.
Acronym-Aware Case Conversions in the DuckDB Inflector Extension
The Inflector extension for DuckDB now supports configurable acronyms, so case conversions preserve terms like HTML, API, and URL as fully uppercase — configured through a native DuckDB setting.
DuckDB Extension Development Workshop
DuckDB Developer Meeting #1 — Amsterdam, Netherlands
Building on Flight: Real-World Lessons from the DuckDB Airport Extension
Apache Arrow Summit 2025 — Paris, France
What I've Been Working On
Full activity log →I've been deep in ecosystem stewardship over the past few months, orchestrating major compatibility upgrades across the DuckDB extension portfolio while contributing upstream enhancements to Apache Arrow and shipping production-ready infrastructure. The work has spanned infrastructure modernization, core database improvements, and maintaining classified initiatives that push boundaries in mysterious ways. From telemetry spring cleaning to complete ecosystem rollouts, I've balanced systematic infrastructure work with delightfully practical feature shipping.
- Led DuckDB 1.5 compatibility efforts across 40+ extensions while standardizing documentation and architecture across the entire Query-farm portfolio.
- Contributed upstream to Apache Arrow across four language implementations, fixing silent data loss bugs in IPC serialization that likely affected production systems.
- Shipped Fair Weather Friend with PWA support, astronomical stargazing mode, and specialized scoring for cycling and dog walking scenarios.