Technology

Trino

Summary

What it is

A distributed SQL query engine for federated analytics across heterogeneous data sources, with deep support for S3-backed data lakes and lakehouses.

Where it fits

Trino is the multi-engine query layer for S3 lakehouses. It queries Iceberg, Delta, Hudi, and raw Parquet on S3 through connectors — and can join S3 data with operational databases in a single query.

Misconceptions / Traps

  • Trino is a query engine, not a storage engine. It reads from S3 but does not manage data. Writes go through table format commit protocols.
  • Trino requires a coordinator and workers — operational overhead is higher than DuckDB. Use DuckDB for single-user exploration; Trino for multi-user production queries.

Key Connections

  • depends_on Apache Parquet — reads Parquet files from S3
  • used_by Lakehouse Architecture — a primary query engine for lakehouses
  • constrained_by Small Files Problem, Object Listing Performance — performance affected by S3 access patterns
  • Natural Language Querying augments Trino — LLMs generate SQL for Trino
  • scoped_to S3, Lakehouse

Definition

What it is

A distributed SQL query engine designed for federated analytics across heterogeneous data sources, with deep support for querying S3-backed data lakes and lakehouses.

Why it exists

Organizations store data across many systems. Trino provides a single SQL interface to query data wherever it lives — including directly on S3 via Parquet, ORC, Iceberg, Delta, and Hudi connectors — without moving data.

Primary use cases

Federated SQL across S3-backed sources, interactive lakehouse queries, cross-source joins between S3 data and operational databases.

Relationships

Outbound Relationships

scoped_to
S3Lakehouse
depends_on
Apache Parquet
used_by
Lakehouse Architecture
constrained_by
Small Files ProblemObject Listing Performance

Inbound Relationships

used_by
Apache ParquetORC
augments
Natural Language Querying

Resources

DocsHigh
trino.io/docs/current/

Official Trino documentation covering the distributed SQL query engine architecture, connectors, and query execution.

GitHubHigh
github.com/trinodb/trino

Main Trino source repository (formerly PrestoSQL) including all connectors, the query optimizer, and the execution engine.

DocsHigh
trino.io/docs/current/object-storage.html

Trino's object storage documentation details how to configure S3 as the backing store for Hive, Iceberg, Delta Lake, and Hudi connectors.

DocsHigh
trino.io/docs/current/connector/iceberg.html

The Iceberg connector docs are a key S3 integration point, showing how Trino queries Iceberg table format data stored on S3.