Andrew Lamb, PMC Chair of Apache DataFusion, explains how this open source query engine lets teams build specialized analytic databases without reinventing SQL from scratch. We cover how DataFusion grew out of Apache Arrow, why it split into its own top-level project, how it attracted nearly 1,000 contributors, and what the rise of AI coding agents means for an embeddable database engine. If you’ve ever wondered what sits under the hood of the modern data stack — and how open source communities form around infrastructure no end user ever sees — this is the conversation.

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More about DataFusion: https://datafusion.apache.org/