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Spice v1.3.0 (May 19, 2025)

· 6 min read
Phillip LeBlanc
Phillip LeBlanc
Co-Founder and CTO of Spice AI

Announcing the release of Spice v1.3.0! 🏎️

Spice v1.3.0 accelerates data and AI applications with significantly improved query performance, reliability, and expanded Databricks integration. New support for the Databricks SQL Statement Execution API enables direct SQL queries on Databricks SQL Warehouses, complementing Mosaic AI model serving and embeddings (introduced in v1.2.2) and existing Databricks catalog and dataset integrations. This release upgrades to DataFusion v46, optimizes results caching performance, and strengthens security with least-privilege sandboxed improvements.

What's New in v1.3.0​

  • Databricks SQL Statement Execution API Support: Added support for the Databricks SQL Statement Execution API, enabling direct SQL queries against Databricks SQL Warehouses for optimized performance in analytics and reporting workflows.

    Example spicepod.yml configuration:

    datasets:
      - from: databricks:spiceai.datasets.my_awesome_table
        name: my_awesome_table
        params:
          mode: sql_warehouse
          databricks_endpoint: ${env:DATABRICKS_ENDPOINT}
          databricks_sql_warehouse_id: ${env:DATABRICKS_SQL_WAREHOUSE_ID}
          databricks_token: ${env:DATABRICKS_TOKEN}

    For details, see the Databricks Data Connector documentation.

  • Improved Results Cache Performance & Hashing Algorithm: Spice now supports an alternative results cache hashing algorithm, ahash, in addition to siphash, being the default. Configure it via:

    runtime:
      results_cache:
        hashing_algorithm: ahash # or siphash

    The hashing algorithm determines how cache keys are hashed before being stored, impacting both lookup speed and protection against potential DOS attacks.

    Using ahash improves performance for large queries or query plans. Combined with results cache optimizations, it reduces 99th percentile request latency and increases total requests/second for queries with large result sets (100k+ cached rows). The following charts show performance tested against the TPCH Query #17 on a scale factor 5 dataset (30+ million rows, 5GB):

    LatencyReq/sec
    Improvements for the 99th percentile query latency, compared against 1.2.2 with cache key type and hashing algorithm.Improvements for the requests/second, compared against 1.2.2 with cache key type and hashing algorithm.

    Note: ahash was not available in v1.2.2, so it is excluded from comparisons.

    To learn more, refer to the Results Cache Hashing Algorithm documentation.

  • SQL Query Performance: Optimized the critical SQL query path, reducing overhead and improving response times for simple queries by 10-20%.

  • DuckDB Acceleration: Fixed a bug in the DuckDB acceleration engine causing query failures under high concurrency when querying datasets accelerated into multiple DuckDB files.

  • Container Security: The container image now runs as a non-root user with enhanced sandboxing and includes only essential dependencies for a slimmer, more secure image.

DataFusion v46 Highlights​

Spice.ai is built on the DataFusion query engine. The v46 release brings:

  • Faster Performance 🚀: DataFusion 46 introduces significant performance enhancements, including a 2x faster median() function for large datasets without grouping, 10–100% speed improvements in FIRST_VALUE and LAST_VALUE window functions by avoiding sorting, and a 40x faster uuid() function. Additional optimizations, such as a 50% faster repeat() string function, accelerated chr() and to_hex() functions, improved grouping algorithms, and Parquet row group pruning with NOT LIKE filters, further boost overall query efficiency.

  • New range() Table Function: A new table-valued function range(start, stop, step) has been added to make it easy to generate integer sequences — similar to PostgreSQL’s generate_series() or Spark’s range(). Example: SELECT * FROM range(1, 10, 2);

  • UNION [ALL | DISTINCT] BY NAME Support: DataFusion now supports UNION BY NAME and UNION ALL BY NAME, which align columns by name instead of position. This matches functionality found in systems like Spark and DuckDB and simplifies combining heterogeneously ordered result sets.

    Example:

    SELECT col1, col2 FROM t1
    UNION ALL BY NAME
    SELECT col2, col1 FROM t2;

See the DataFusion 46.0.0 release notes for details.

Spice.ai adopts the latest minus one DataFusion release for quality assurance and stability. The upgrade to DataFusion v47 is planned for Spice v1.4.0 in June.

Contributors​

Breaking Changes​

No breaking changes.

Cookbook Updates​

  • Added Accelerated Views: Pre-calculate and materialize data derived from one or more underlying datasets.

The Spice Cookbook now includes 67 recipes to help you get started with Spice quickly and easily.

Upgrading​

To upgrade to v1.3.0, use one of the following methods:

CLI:

spice upgrade

Homebrew:

brew upgrade spiceai/spiceai/spice

Docker:

Pull the spiceai/spiceai:1.3.0 image:

docker pull spiceai/spiceai:1.3.0

For available tags, see DockerHub.

Helm:

helm repo update
helm upgrade spiceai spiceai/spiceai

What's Changed​

Dependencies​

Changelog​

See the full list of changes at: v1.2.2...v1.3.0

Spice v1.1.0 (Mar 31, 2025)

· 15 min read
Luke Kim
Luke Kim
Founder and CEO of Spice AI

Model-Context-Protocol (MCP) support in Spice.ai Open Source

Announcing the release of Spice v1.1.0! 🤖

Spice v1.1.0 introduces full support for the Model-Context-Protocol (MCP), expanding how models and tools connect. Spice can now act as both an MCP Server, with the new /v1/mcp/sse API, and an MCP Client, supporting stdio and SSE-based servers. This release also introduces a new Web Search tool with Perplexity model support, advanced evaluation workflows with custom eval scorers, including LLM-as-a-judge, and adds an IMAP Data Connector for federated SQL queries across email servers. Alongside these features, v1.1.0 includes automatic NSQL query retries, expanded task tracing, request drains for HTTP server shutdowns, delivering improved reliability, flexibility, and observability.

Highlights in v1.1.0​

  • Spice as an MCP Server and Client: Spice now supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), for expanded tool discovery and connectivity. Spice can:

    1. Run stdio-based MCP servers internally.
    2. Connect to external MCP servers over SSE protocol (Streamable HTTP is coming soon!)

    For more details, see the MCP documentation.

    Usage​

    tools:
      - name: google_maps
        from: mcp:npx
        params:
          mcp_args: -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-google-maps

    Spice as an MCP Server​

    Tools in Spice can be accessed via MCP. For example, connecting from an IDE like Cursor or Windsurf to Spice. Set the MCP Server URL to http://localhost:8090/v1/mcp/sse.

  • Perplexity Model Support: Spice now supports Perplexity-hosted models, enabling advanced web search and retrieval capabilities. Example configuration:

    models:
      - name: webs
        from: perplexity:sonar
        params:
          perplexity_auth_token: ${ secrets:SPICE_PERPLEXITY_AUTH_TOKEN }
          perplexity_search_domain_filter:
            - docs.spiceai.org
            - huggingface.co

    For more details, see the Perplexity documentation.

  • Web Search Tool: The new Web Search Tool enables Spice models to search the web for information using search engines like Perplexity. Example configuration:

    tools:
      - name: the_internet
        from: websearch
        description: 'Search the web for information.'
        params:
          engine: perplexity
          perplexity_auth_token: ${ secrets:SPICE_PERPLEXITY_AUTH_TOKEN }

    For more details, see the Web Search Tool documentation.

  • Eval Scorers: Eval scorers assess model performance on evaluation cases. Spice includes built-in scorers:

    • match: Exact match.
    • json_match: JSON equivalence.
    • includes: Checks if actual output includes expected output.
    • fuzzy_match: Normalized subset matching.
    • levenshtein: Levenshtein distance.

    Custom scorers can use embedding models or LLMs as judges. Example:

    evals:
      - name: australia
        dataset: cricket_questions
        scorers:
          - hf_minilm
          - judge
          - match
    embeddings:
      - name: hf_minilm
        from: huggingface:huggingface.co/sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2
    models:
      - name: judge
        from: openai:gpt-4o
        params:
          openai_api_key: ${ secrets:OPENAI_API_KEY }
          system_prompt: |
            Compare these stories and score their similarity (0.0 to 1.0).
            Story A: {{ .actual }}
            Story B: {{ .ideal }}

    For more details, see the Eval Scorers documentation.

  • IMAP Data Connector: Query emails stored in IMAP servers using federated SQL. Example:

    datasets:
      - from: imap:myawesomeemail@gmail.com
        name: emails
        params:
          imap_access_token: ${secrets:IMAP_ACCESS_TOKEN}

    For more details, see the IMAP Data Connector documentation.

  • Automatic NSQL Query Retries: Failed NSQL queries are now automatically retried, improving reliability for federated queries. For more details, see the NSQL documentation.

  • Enhanced Task Tracing: Task history now includes chat completion IDs, and runtime readiness is traced for better observability. Use the runtime.task_history table to query task details. See the Task History documentation.

  • Vector Search with Keyword Filtering: The vector search API now includes an optional list of keywords as a parameter, to pre-filter SQL results before performing a vector search. When vector searching via a chat completion, models will automatically generate keywords relevant to the search. See the Vector Search API documentation.

  • Improved Refresh Behavior on Startup: Spice won't automatically refresh an accelerated dataset on startup if it doesn't need to. See the Refresh on Startup documentation.

  • Graceful Shutdown for HTTP Server: The HTTP server now drains requests for graceful shutdowns, ensuring smoother runtime termination.

New Contributors 🎉​

Contributors​

  • @sgrebnov
  • @phillipleblanc
  • @peasee
  • @Jeadie
  • @lukekim
  • @benrussell
  • @Sevenannn
  • @sergey-shandar
  • @Garamda
  • @johnnynunez

Breaking Changes​

No breaking changes.

Cookbook Updates​

The Spice Cookbook now has 74 recipes that make it easy to get started with Spice!

Upgrading​

To upgrade to v1.1.0, use one of the following methods:

CLI:

spice upgrade

Homebrew:

brew upgrade spiceai/spiceai/spice

Docker:

Pull the spiceai/spiceai:1.1.0 image:

docker pull spiceai/spiceai:1.1.0

For available tags, see DockerHub.

Helm:

helm repo update
helm upgrade spiceai spiceai/spiceai

What's Changed​

Dependencies​

  • No major dependency changes.

Changelog​

- release: Bump chart, and versions for next release by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4464>
- feat: Schedule testoperator by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4503>
- fix: Remove on zero results arguments from benchmarks by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4533>
- fix: Don't snapshot clickbench benchmarks by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4534>
- docs: v1.0.1 release note by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4529>
- Update acknowledgements by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4535>
- In spiced_docker, propagate setup to publish-cuda by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4543>
- Upgrade Rust to 1.84 by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4541>
- Upgrade dependencies by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4546>
- Revert "Use OpenAI golang client in `spice chat` (#4491)" by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4564>
- feat: add schema inference for the Spice.ai Data Connector by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4579>
- Remove 'tools: builtin' by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4607>
- feat: Add initial IMAP connector by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4587>
- feat: Add email content loading by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4616>
- feat: Add SSL and Auth parameters for IMAP by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4613>
- Change /v1/models to be OpenAI compatible by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4624>
- Use `pdf-extract` crate to extract text from PDF documents by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4615>
- Update openapi.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4628>
- Add 1.0.2 release notes by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4627>
- Fix cuda::ffi by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4649>
- Update spicepod.schema.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4654>
- fix: Spice.ai schema inference by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4674>
- Add SQL Benchmark with sample eval configuration based on TPCH by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4549>
- Update Helm chart to Spice v1.0.2 by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4655>
- Update v1.0.2 release notes by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4639>
- Fix E2E AI release install test on self-hosted runners (macos) by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4675>
- Main performance metrics calculation for Text to SQL Benchmark by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4681>
- Add eval datasets / test scripts for model grading criteria by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4663>
- Update openapi.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4684>
- Add testoperator for `evals` running by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4688>
- Add GH Workflow to run Text to SQL benchmark by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4689>
- Add 1.0.2 as supported version to SECURITY.md by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4695>
- Text-To-SQL benchmark: trace failed tests by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4705>
- Text-To-SQL benchmark: extend list of benchmarking models by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4707>
- Text-To-SQL: increase sql coverage, add more advanced tests by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4713>
- Use model that supports tools in hf_test by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4712>
- Fix Spice.ai E2E test by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4723>
- Return non-existing model for v1/chat endpoint by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4718>
- Update Helm chart for 1.0.3 by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4742>
- Update dependencies by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4740>
- Update spicepod.schema.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4744>
- Update SECURITY.md with 1.0.3 by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4745>
- Add basic smoke test of perplexity LLM to llm integration tests. by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4735>
- Don't run integration tests on PRs when only CLI is changed by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4751>
- Prompt user to upgrade through brew / do another clean install when spice is installed through homebrew / at non-standard path by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4746>
- feat: Search with keyword filtering by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4759>
- Fix search benchmark by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4765>
- feat: Add IMAP access token parameter by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4769>
- Update openapi.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4774>
- Mark trunk builds as unstable by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4776>
- feat: Release Spice.ai RC by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4753>
- fix: Validate columns and keywords in search by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4775>
- Run models E2E tests on PR by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4798>
- fix: models runtime not required for cloud chat by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4781>
- Only open one PR for openapi.json by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4807>
- docs: Release IMAP Alpha by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4797>
- Add Results-Cache-Status to indicate query result came from cache by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4809>
- Initial spice cli e2e tests with spice upgrade tests by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4764>
- Log CLI and Runtime Versions on startup by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4816>
- Sort keys for openai by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4766>
- Remove docs index trigger from the endgame template by @ewgenius in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4832>
- Release notes for v1.0.4 by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4827>
- Update SECURITY.md by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4829>
- Update spicepod.schema.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4831>
- Don't print URL by @lukekim in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4838>
- add 'eval_run' to 'spice trace' by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4841>
- Run benchmark tests w/o uploading test results (pending improvements) by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4843>
- Fix 'actual" and "output" columns in `eval.results`. by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4835>
- Fix string escaping of system prompt by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4844>
- update helm chart to v1.0.4 by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4828>
- Update openapi.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4806>
- fix: Skip sccache in PR for external users by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4851>
- fix: Return BAD_REQUEST when not embeddings are configured by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4804>
- Debug log cuda detection failure in spice by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4852>
- fix: Set RUSTC wrapper explicitly by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4854>
- Improve trace UX for `ai_completion`, fix infinite tool calls by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4853>
- Allow homebrew spice cli to upgrade the runtime by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4811>
- Add support for MCP tools by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4808>
- fix: Rustc wrapper actions by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4867>
- Provide link to supported OS list when user platform is not supported by @Garamda in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4840>
- Always download spice runtime version matched with spice cli version by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4761>
- Disable flaky integration test by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4871>
- fix: sccache actions setup by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4873>
- Fixing Go installation in the setup script for Linux Arm64 by @sergey-shandar in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4868>
- Update openapi.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4864>
- DuckDB acceleration: Use temp table only for append with conflict resolution by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4874>
- Trace the output of streamed `chat/completions` to runtime.task_history. by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4845>
- Always pass `X-API-Key` in spice api calls header if detected in env by @ewgenius in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4878>
- Revert "DuckDB acceleration: Use temp table only for append with conflict resolution" by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4886>
- Allow overriding spicerack base url in the CLI by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4892>
- Add test Spicepod for DuckDB full acceleration with constraints by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4891>
- Refactor Parameter Handling by @Advayp in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4833>
- Add test Spicepod for DuckDB append acceleration with constraints by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4898>
- Update to latest async-openai fork. Update secrecy by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4911>
- Fix mcp tools build by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4916>
- Add more test spicepods by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4923>
- task: Add more dispatch files by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4933>
- run spiceai benchmark test using test operator by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4920>
- Convert sequential search code block to parallel async by @Garamda in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4936>
- fix: Throughput metric calculation by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4938>
- Update dependabot dependencies & `cargo update` by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4872>
- Improve servers shutdown sequence during runtime termination by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4942>
- Semantic model for views. Views visible in `table_schema` & `list_datasets` tools. by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4946>
- update openai-async by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4948>
- Update openapi.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4961>
- fix: Redundant results snapshotting by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4956>
- Create schema for views if not exist by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4957>
- Bump Jimver/cuda-toolkit from 0.2.21 to 0.2.22 by @dependabot in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4969>
- List available operations in `spice trace <operation>` by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4953>
- Initial commit of release analytics by @lukekim in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4975>
- Remove spaces from CSV by @lukekim in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4977>
- Fix Spice pods watcher by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4984>
- feat: Add appendable data sources for the testoperator by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4949>
- Omit timestamp when warning regarding datasets with hyphens by @Advayp in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4987>
- Update helm chart to v1.0.5 by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4990>
- docs: Update qa_analytics.csv by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4989>
- Update end_game template by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4991>
- Update spicepod.schema.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4993>
- Add v1.0.5 release notes by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4994>
- Supported Versions: include v1.0.5 by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4995>
- Dependabot updates by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4992>
- Switch to basic markdown formatting for vector search by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4934>
- docs: Update qa_analytics.csv by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5001>
- feat: Add TPCDS FileAppendableSource for testoperator by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5002>
- Update `ring` by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5003>
- docs: Update qa_analytics.csv by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5006>
- feat: Add ClickBench FileAppendableSource for testoperator by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5004>
- feat: Validate append test table counts by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5008>
- feat: Add append spicepods by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5009>
- Improve Vector Search performance for large content w/o primary key defined by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5010>
- Don't try to downgrade Arc in test_acceleration_duckdb_single_instance by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5014>
- feat: Add an initial testoperator vector search command by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5011>
- feat: Update testoperator workflows for automatic snapshot updates by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5018>
- Fix Vector Search when additional columns include embedding column by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5022>
- Include test for primary key passed as additional column in Vector Search by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5024>
- fix: Update benchmark snapshots by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5020>
- upgrade mistral.rs by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4952>
- fix: Indexes for TPCDS SQLite Spicepod by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5038>
- fix: Update benchmark snapshots by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5035>
- Include local files in generated Spicepod package by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5041>
- update mistral.rs to 'spiceai' branch rev by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5029>
- Configure spiced as an MCP SSE server by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5039>
- Update openapi.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5052>
- fix: Disable benchmarks schedule, enable testoperator schedule by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5058>
- fix: Update benchmark snapshots by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5060>
- Update ROADMAP.md March 2025 by @lukekim in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5061>
- fix: Testoperator data setup by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5068>
- fix: All HTTP endpoints to hang when adding an invalid dataset with --pods-watcher-enabled by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5050>
- fix: Update benchmark snapshots by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5073>
- Integration tests for MCP tooling by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5053>
- OpenAPI docs for MCP by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5057>
- fix: Acceleration federation test by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5090>
- fix: Allow spiced commit in testoperator dispatch by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5098>
- fix: Use RefreshOverrides for the refresh API definition by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5095>
- Update openapi.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5094>
- fix: Increase tries for refresh_status_change_to_ready test by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5099>
- feat: Testoperator reports on max and median memory usage by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5101>
- Update openapi.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5105>
- fix: Fail testoperator on failed queries by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5106>
- Update Helm chart to 1.0.6 by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5107>
- Update SECURITY.md to include 1.0.6 by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5109>
- Update spicepod.schema.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5108>
- Add QA analytics for 1.0.6 by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5110>
- add env variables to tools, usable in MCP stdio by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5097>
- HF downloads obey SIGTERM by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5044>
- Add v1.0.6 release notes into trunk by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5111>
- Remove redundant mod name for iceberg integration tests by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5112>
- Use fixed data directory for test operator by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5103>
- Improvements for evals by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5040>
- Make McpProxy trait for MCP passthrough by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5115>
- Properly handle '/' for tool names. by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5116>
- Use retry logic when loading tools by @Jeadie in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5120>
- Exclude slow tests from regular pr runs by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5119>
- Fix test operator snapshot update by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5130>
- spice init: Fixes windows bug where full path is used for spicepod name by @benrussell in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5126>
- fix: Update benchmark snapshots by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5131>
- Implement graceful shutdown for HTTP server by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5102>
- Update enhancement.md by @lukekim in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5142>
- Add GitHub Workflow and PoC Spicepod configuration to run FinanceBench tests by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5145>
- Fix Postgres and MySQL installation on macos14-runner (E2E CI) by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5155>
- De-duplicate attachments in DuckDBAttachments by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5156>
- v1.0.7 release note by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5153>
- Update spicepod.schema.json by @github-actions in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5160>
- Update Helm chart to 1.0.7 by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5159>
- Add github token to macos test release download tasks by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5161>
- update security.md for 1.0.7 by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5162>
- Update roadmap.md by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5163>
- Add a performance comparison section for 1.0.7 by @phillipleblanc in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5164>
- docs: Add snafu error variant point to style guide by @peasee in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5167>
- Fix 1.0.7 release note by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5168>
- Adjust DuckDB connection pool size based on DuckDB accelerator instances usage by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5117>
- Add automatic retry for NSQL queries by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5169>
- Include chat completion id to task history by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5170>
- Trace when all runtime components are ready by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5171>
- Update qa_analytics.csv for 1.0.7 by @Sevenannn in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5165>
- Set default tool recursion limit to 10 to prevent infinite loops by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5173>
- Add support for `schema_source_path` param for object-store data connectors by @sgrebnov in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5178>
- Run license check and check changes on self-hosted macOS runners by @lukekim in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5179>
- Add MCP by @lukekim in <https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5183>

Full Changelog: github.com/spiceai/spiceai/compare/v1.0.0...release/1.1

Spice v1.0.7 (Mar 26, 2025)

· 3 min read
Phillip LeBlanc
Phillip LeBlanc
Co-Founder and CTO of Spice AI

Announcing the release of Spice v1.0.7 🏎️

Spice v1.0.7 improves memory usage when using DuckDB, improves schema inference performance when using object-store based data connectors, and fixes a bug in Dremio schema inference.

Highlights in v1.0.7​

  • DuckDB Memory Usage: Memory usage when using DuckDB has been significantly improved for data loads and refreshes through expanded use of zero-copy Arrow and multi-threading for data loads. When a duckdb_memory_limit is specified, disk spilling has been improved for greater-than-memory workloads. In addition, a new temp_directory runtime parameter supports storing temporary files to alternative location than the DuckDB data file for higher throughput. For example, temp_directory could be set to a different high-IOPs IO2 EBS volume that is separate from the duckdb_file_path.

    Automated end-to-end tests for the DuckDB Accelerator coverage has been significantly expanded.

    For configuration details, see the documentation for runtime parameters and the DuckDB Data Accelerator.

  • Schema Inference Performance for Object-Store Data Connectors: Schema inference performance has been improved, especially for large numbers of objects (1M+ objects) when using object-store based data connectors by making the object-listing and selection more efficient.

Performance​

When compared to previous versions, Spice v1.0.7 loads DuckDB accelerated datasets significantly faster. When using the TPCH lineitem dataset at Scale Factor 100 (600M rows):

Without Indexes​

5x faster, 28% less memory usage.

v1.0.6 v1.0.7

VersionLoad TimePeak Memory Usage
v1.0.616m 3s32GB
v1.0.73m 149ms24.4GB

With Indexes​

2.5x faster. Higher memory usage in v1.0.7 is due to better resource utilization to achieve faster load times. Use the duckdb_memory_limit parameter to control memory usage.

VersionLoad TimePeak Memory Usage
v1.0.627m 9s50GB
v1.0.711m 30s77GB

v1.0.6 with indexes v1.0.7 with indexes

Documentation​

  • DuckDB Data Accelerator: Has been expanded with additional resource usage guidance.
  • Memory: A new section for memory considerations has been added to the Reference section.

Contributors​

  • @phillipleblanc
  • @sgrebnov
  • @peasee
  • @Sevenannn

Breaking Changes​

No breaking changes.

Upgrading​

To upgrade to v1.0.7, use one of the following methods:

CLI:

spice upgrade

Homebrew:

brew upgrade spiceai/spiceai/spice

Docker:

Pull the spiceai/spiceai:1.0.7 image:

docker pull spiceai/spiceai:1.0.7

For available tags, see DockerHub.

Helm:

helm repo update
helm upgrade spiceai spiceai/spiceai

What's Changed​

Dependencies​

Changelog​

- fix: Remove on zero results arguments from benchmarks by @peasee in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4533
- Run benchmark tests w/o uploading test results (pending improvements) by @sgrebnov in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4843
- fix: Return BAD_REQUEST when not embeddings are configured by @peasee in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4804
- Fix Dremio schema inference by @phillipleblanc in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5114
- Improve performance of schema inference for object-store data connectors by @sgrebnov in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5124
- Always download spice runtime version matched with spice cli version by @Sevenannn in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/4761
- Fix go lint errors by @sgrebnov in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5147
- Make DuckDB acceleration E2E tests more comprehensive by @sgrebnov in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5146
- Enable Spice to load larger than memory datasets into DuckDB accelerations by @phillipleblanc in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5149
- Add `temp_directory` runtime parameter and insert it for DuckDB accelerations by @phillipleblanc in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5152
- Fix Postgres and MySQL installation on macos14-runner (E2E CI) by @sgrebnov in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5155
- Enable E2E for DuckDB full mode acceleration with indexes only in CI by @sgrebnov in https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5154

Full Changelog: github.com/spiceai/spiceai/compare/v1.0.6...v1.0.7

Spice v1.0.6 (Mar 17, 2025)

· 3 min read
Sergei Grebnov
Sergei Grebnov
Senior Software Engineer at Spice AI

Announcing the release of Spice v1.0.6 ⚡

Spice v1.0.6 improves stability for DuckDB acceleration, Iceberg Data/Catalog connector improvements when using AWS Glue, and fixes an issue with the ready_state: on_registration federation fallback when using DuckDB. In addition, redundant data refreshes on startup are avoided for accelerations with persistent data.

Highlights in v1.0.6​

  • Iceberg Data/Catalog Connector Improvements: Improves Iceberg data & catalog connector reliability, including bug fixes for AWS Glue API rate-limiting and compatibility, REST API pagination support, explicit AWS credential handling, and support for AWS STS role assumption.

  • Fixes On-Registration Fallback when using DuckDB: Previously, when using DuckDB as a data accelerator and the ready_state: on_registration configuration, queries made during the initial data refresh did not properly fallback to the federated source. This is now fixed.

  • DuckDB downgraded for Stability: DuckDB has been downgraded to v1.1.3 due to a regression in memory handling tracked by duckdb/duckdb issue #16640. Once resolved and validated, Spice will re-upgrade to v1.2.x.

  • Expanded Integration Tests: Additional integration tests covering federated accelerator behavior and graceful shutdown processes have been added.

  • Optimized Data Refresh for Persistent Accelerations: Changed behavior in v1.0.6. When using persistent (file-mode) acceleration without a defined refresh interval, Spice performs a full refresh at startup only if no previously accelerated data is available. This ensures efficient startup behavior by avoiding unnecessary refreshes. This logic applies only to full refreshes when no refresh interval is specified.

To maintain the previous behavior and always refresh on every startup, set:

acceleration:
  refresh_on_startup: always

Contributors​

  • @peasee
  • @phillipleblanc
  • @sgrebnov
  • @lukekim
  • @Sevenannn

Breaking Changes​

Starting from v1.0.6 when using persistent (file-mode) acceleration without a defined refresh interval, Spice performs a full refresh at startup only if no previously accelerated data is available. To maintain the previous behavior and always refresh on every startup, set:

acceleration:
  refresh_on_startup: always

Cookbook Updates​

No new recipes.

Upgrading​

To upgrade to v1.0.6, use one of the following methods:

CLI:

spice upgrade

Homebrew:

brew upgrade spiceai/spiceai/spice

Docker:

Pull the spiceai/spiceai:1.0.6 image:

docker pull spiceai/spiceai:1.0.6

For available tags, see DockerHub.

Helm:

helm repo update
helm upgrade spiceai spiceai/spiceai

What's Changed​

Dependencies​

Changelog​

  • Implement proper ready_state: on_registration for federation enabled accelerators by @phillipleblanc in #5019
  • Add indexes and primary keys mismatch detection for DuckDB Acceleration by @sgrebnov in #5045
  • Add comprehensive integration tests for the ready_state behavior by @phillipleblanc in #5042
  • Add test Spicepod for acceleration with constraints by @sgrebnov in #4891
  • Add test Spicepod for DuckDB append acceleration with constraints by @sgrebnov in #4898
  • Add DuckDB graceful shutdown test to E2E CI tests by @sgrebnov in #5047
  • Update duckdb_append_with_pk_and_indexes.yaml (work for duckdb 1.1.x) by @sgrebnov in #5067
  • fix: Downgrade to DuckDB 1.1.3 by @peasee in #5055
  • fix: Acceleration federation integration test by @peasee in #5070
  • Improvements to Iceberg Catalog/Data Connector by @phillipleblanc in #5071
  • Add Results-Cache-Status to indicate query result came from cache by @phillipleblanc in #4809
  • fix: Spice.ai schema inference by @peasee in #4674
  • Add refresh_on_startup Spicepod configuration param by @phillipleblanc and @sgrebnov in #5086
  • Test restart behavior of DuckDB file acceleration against glue iceberg table by @Sevenannn #5075
  • Run Iceberg Data Connector - DuckDB File mode integration test by @Sevenannn #5069
  • Integration test for glue iceberg catalog by @Sevenannn #5077

Full Changelog: https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/compare/v1.0.5...v1.0.6

Spice v1.0.5 (Mar 11, 2025)

· 3 min read
Sergei Grebnov
Sergei Grebnov
Senior Software Engineer at Spice AI

Announcing the release of Spice v1.0.5 🧊

Spice v1.0.5 expands Iceberg support with the introduction of the Iceberg Data Connector, in addition to the existing Iceberg Catalog Connector. This new connector enables direct dataset creation and configuration for specific Iceberg objects, enabling federated and accelerated SQL queries on Apache Iceberg tables.

Performance improvements include object-store optimized Parquet pruning in append mode, where object-store metadata is now leveraged alongside Hive partitioning to optimize file pruning. This results in faster and more efficient queries.

DuckDB has been upgraded to v1.2.0, along with additional stability improvements, including improved graceful shutdown and the ability to configure the DuckDB memory limit.

Additional updates include support for the Arrow Map type.

Highlights in v1.0.5​

  • New Iceberg Data Connector: Enables direct dataset creation and querying of Iceberg tables.

    Example usage in spicepod.yaml:

    datasets:
      - from: iceberg:https://iceberg-catalog-host.com/v1/namespaces/my_namespace/tables/my_table
        name: my_table
        params:
          # Same as Iceberg Catalog Connector
        acceleration:
          enabled: true

    For detailed setup instructions, authentication options, and configuration parameters, refer to the Iceberg Data Connector documentation.

  • Improved Parquet pruning in append mode: Uses object-store metadata for more efficient file pruning.

  • DuckDB upgrade to v1.2.0 with improved graceful shutdown: Read the DuckDB v1.2.0 announcement for details, including breaking changes for map and list_reduce. Graceful shutdown of DuckDB has been improved for better stability across restarts.

  • Configurable DuckDB memory limit: Use the duckdb_memory_limit parameter to set the DuckDB acceleration memory limit:

    - from: spice.ai:path.to.my_dataset
       name: my_dataset
       acceleration:
         params: 
           duckdb_memory_limit: '2GB'
         enabled: true
         engine: duckdb
         mode: file

Contributors​

  • @peasee
  • @phillipleblanc
  • @sgrebnov
  • @lukekim

Breaking Changes​

Upgrading​

To upgrade to v1.0.5, use one of the following methods:

CLI:

spice upgrade

Homebrew:

brew upgrade spiceai/spiceai/spice

Docker:

Pull the spiceai/spiceai:1.0.5 image:

docker pull spiceai/spiceai:1.0.5

For available tags, see DockerHub.

Helm:

helm repo update
helm upgrade spiceai spiceai/spiceai

What's Changed​

Dependencies​

Changelog​

  • fix: Update OpenAI model health check by @peasee in #4849
  • fix: Allow metrics endpoint setting in CLI by @peasee in #4939
  • DuckDB acceleration: fix Decimal with zero scale support by @sgrebnov in #4922
  • Introduce runtime shutdown state by @sgrebnov in #4917
  • Add support for Flight and HTTP endpoints configuration to Spice CLI (run and sql) by @sgrebnov and @lukekim in #4913
  • Fix Datafusion resources deallocation during shutdown by @sgrebnov in #4912
  • DuckDB: fix error handling during record batch insertion by @sgrebnov in #4894
  • DuckDB: add support for Map Arrow type for DuckDB acceleration by @sgrebnov in #4887
  • Upgrade to DuckDB v1.2.0 by @sgrebnov in #4842
  • Gracefully shutdown the runtime and deallocate static resources by @sgrebnov in #4879
  • Implement an Iceberg Data Connector by @phillipleblanc in #4941
  • Don't trace canceled dataset refresh during runtime termination by @sgrebnov in #4958
  • Use metadata column last_modified when specified as a time_column by @phillipleblanc in #4970
  • Add duckdb_memory_limit param support for DuckDB acceleration by @sgrebnov in #4971
  • Add Iceberg dataset integration test by @phillipleblanc in #4950

Full Changelog: https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/compare/v1.0.4...v1.0.5