# Run a step inside a database Control / inflight sql push a step down into a database rather than the tool's own engine Page: ## Status Not built yet. arcform does not do this yet; it would live in how a Protocol runs. [Its place on the roadmap](https://meridian.online/roadmap#run-a-step-inside-a-database) ## Variants - Control what is pushed down: Stop later steps from being pushed down to the source, or intercept them so the source can answer them. - Move data or queries between the database and the tool: Bring rows into the database to join an in-database chain, pull its result back, or pass its query text in or out as values. - Run a query in the database's own language: Send hand-written SQL to the source database to run there as written, and take its result. - Push pipeline steps down into the database: Have the tool translate a chain of ordinary steps into SQL, or another engine's jobs, that run where the data lives. ## What other tools call it Meridian's classification; an independent blind rating agreed on 86.2% of 312 rows (exact class, version 2). - Alteryx Designer: [`Data Stream In`](https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/tools/in-database/data-stream-in-tool.html) (read 2026-09-27) - Alteryx Designer: [`Data Stream Out`](https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/tools/in-database/data-stream-out-tool.html) (read 2026-09-27) - Alteryx Designer: [`Dynamic Input In-DB`](https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/tools/in-database/dynamic-input-in-db-tool.html) (read 2026-09-27) - Alteryx Designer: [`Dynamic Output In-DB`](https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/tools/in-database/dynamic-output-in-db-tool.html) (read 2026-09-27) - Bruin: [`Default: no materialization`](https://getbruin.com/docs/bruin/assets/materialization.html) (read 2026-09-27) - Bruin: [`fabric.spark_sql`](https://getbruin.com/docs/bruin/platforms/fabric.html) (read 2026-09-27) - Duckle: [`Execute in Source`](https://github.com/slothflowlabs/duckle/blob/f85f8960edfb6efbf4cb89d58a7b32e16df0e867/frontend/src/workflow-ui/palette-data.ts) (read 2026-09-25) - KNIME Analytics Platform: [`DB Query`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*mgAu4IAMHNlmybx4?details=full) (read 2026-09-27) - KNIME Analytics Platform: [`DB Query Extractor`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*LmSmXPetKridRFN8?details=full) (read 2026-09-27) - KNIME Analytics Platform: [`DB Query Injector`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*AUjb7j_lSM4kXS2t?details=full) (read 2026-09-27) - KNIME Analytics Platform: [`KNIME Extension for Apache Spark (extension)`](https://api.hub.knime.com/extensions/org.knime.features.bigdata.spark) (read 2026-09-27) - KNIME Analytics Platform: [`KNIME Microsoft R Integration (Run R Model in Microsoft SQL Server) (extension)`](https://api.hub.knime.com/extensions/org.knime.features.microsoft.r) (read 2026-09-27) - Power Query M: [`Table.StopFolding`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powerquery-m/table-functions#other) (read 2026-09-27) - Power Query M: [`Table.View`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powerquery-m/table-functions#table-construction) (read 2026-09-27) - Power Query M: [`Table.ViewFunction`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powerquery-m/table-functions#table-construction) (read 2026-09-27) - Power Query M: [`Value.NativeQuery`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powerquery-m/value-functions) (read 2026-09-27) - RapidMiner Studio: [`In Database Nest`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/extensions/In-Database%20Processing/indb_nest.html) (read 2026-09-27) - Talend: [`ELT input, map and output components (family)`](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/components/8.0/About) (read 2026-09-27) - Talend: [`tCombinedSQLInput`](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/components/8.0/combinedsql/combinedsql-component) (read 2026-09-27) - Talend: [`tCombinedSQLOutput`](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/components/8.0/combinedsql/combinedsql-component) (read 2026-09-27) - VisiData: [`edit-sql`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/sqlite.py#L319) (read 2026-09-23) - VisiData: [`exec-sql`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/sqlite.py#L318) (read 2026-09-23)