diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index e3ab052..ad1105d 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@
 * `ragnar_inspector()` now renders all urls as clickable links in the chunk markdown
    viewer, even if url is not a formal markdown link (#82).
 
+* Before running examples and tests we now check if ragnar can load DuckDB extensions.
+  This fixes issues in environments where DuckDB pre-built binaries for extensions are not 
+  compatible with the installed DuckDB version (#94).
+
 # ragnar 0.2.0
 
 * `ragnar_store_create()` gains a new argument: `version`, with default `2`.
diff --git a/R/aaa-utils.R b/R/aaa-utils.R
index 5a26a5f..b8b7711 100644
--- a/R/aaa-utils.R
+++ b/R/aaa-utils.R
@@ -281,3 +281,42 @@ prop_string <- function(
     )
   )
 }
+
+can_load_duckdb_extensions <- local({
+  # DuckDB extensions are shared libraries downloaded when
+  # running `INSTAll <name>`. They are pre-built by the DuckDB
+  # team https://github.com/duckdb/extension-ci-tools
+  # They are built for the major platforms using the standard
+  # compilers.
+  # One of the CRAN test server is a Linux machine with R compiled
+  # with clang instead of GCC. Turns since the compilers have different
+  # ABIs, a crash happens when trying to execute extensions that are
+  # pre-built on GCC.
+  # To avoid the crash on CRAN machines, we check if the extensions can
+  # be loaded in a separate process and proceed if that's possible.
+  can <- NULL
+  function() {
+    if (is.null(can)) {
+      can <<- 0 == system2(
+        rscript_exe(),
+        "-",
+        input = c(
+          "con <- DBI::dbConnect(duckdb::duckdb())",
+          "DBI::dbExecute(con, 'INSTALL fts; LOAD fts;')",
+          "DBI::dbExecute(con, 'INSTALL vss; LOAD vss;')"
+        ),
+        stderr = FALSE,
+        stdout = FALSE
+      )
+    }
+    can
+  }
+})
+
+rscript_exe <- function() {
+  file.path(
+    R.home("bin"),
+    if (is_windows()) "Rscript.exe" else "Rscript"
+  )
+}
+
diff --git a/R/retrieve.R b/R/retrieve.R
index f205204..850ea7d 100644
--- a/R/retrieve.R
+++ b/R/retrieve.R
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ ragnar_retrieve_vss_and_bm25 <- function(store, text, top_k = 3, ...) {
 #'   represents a chunk and always contains a `text` column.
 #'
 #' @family ragnar_retrieve
-#' @examplesIf (rlang::is_installed("dbplyr") && nzchar(Sys.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")))
+#' @examplesIf (rlang::is_installed("dbplyr") && nzchar(Sys.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")) && ragnar:::can_load_duckdb_extensions())
 #' ## Build a small store with categories
 #' store <- ragnar_store_create(
 #'   embed = \(x) ragnar::embed_openai(x, model = "text-embedding-3-small"),
diff --git a/R/store.R b/R/store.R
index 6634332..3cc2590 100644
--- a/R/store.R
+++ b/R/store.R
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
 #'
 #' @returns a `RagnarStore` object
 #' @export
-#' @examples
+#' @examplesIf ragnar:::can_load_duckdb_extensions()
 #' # A store with a dummy embedding
 #' store <- ragnar_store_create(
 #'   embed = \(x) matrix(stats::runif(10), nrow = length(x), ncol = 10),
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index dd74c59..4e4cd7c 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-"${R_HOME}/bin/Rscript" tools/configure_reticulate.R
+"${R_HOME}/bin/Rscript" tools/configure_deps.R
diff --git a/configure.win b/configure.win
index dd74c59..4e4cd7c 100755
--- a/configure.win
+++ b/configure.win
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-"${R_HOME}/bin/Rscript" tools/configure_reticulate.R
+"${R_HOME}/bin/Rscript" tools/configure_deps.R
diff --git a/man/ragnar_retrieve.Rd b/man/ragnar_retrieve.Rd
index 14edc80..807c6b3 100644
--- a/man/ragnar_retrieve.Rd
+++ b/man/ragnar_retrieve.Rd
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ union of chunks retrieved by both methods.
 The results are not re-ranked after identifying the unique values.
 }
 \examples{
-\dontshow{if ((rlang::is_installed("dbplyr") && nzchar(Sys.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")))) (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
+\dontshow{if ((rlang::is_installed("dbplyr") && nzchar(Sys.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")) && ragnar:::can_load_duckdb_extensions())) (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
 ## Build a small store with categories
 store <- ragnar_store_create(
   embed = \(x) ragnar::embed_openai(x, model = "text-embedding-3-small"),
diff --git a/man/ragnar_retrieve_vss.Rd b/man/ragnar_retrieve_vss.Rd
index 022b11f..264dbaa 100644
--- a/man/ragnar_retrieve_vss.Rd
+++ b/man/ragnar_retrieve_vss.Rd
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ sets or filtered queries.
 The results are not re-ranked after identifying the unique values.
 }
 \examples{
-\dontshow{if ((rlang::is_installed("dbplyr") && nzchar(Sys.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")))) (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
+\dontshow{if ((rlang::is_installed("dbplyr") && nzchar(Sys.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")) && ragnar:::can_load_duckdb_extensions())) (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
 ## Build a small store with categories
 store <- ragnar_store_create(
   embed = \(x) ragnar::embed_openai(x, model = "text-embedding-3-small"),
diff --git a/man/ragnar_retrieve_vss_and_bm25.Rd b/man/ragnar_retrieve_vss_and_bm25.Rd
index 33483f2..14d51c6 100644
--- a/man/ragnar_retrieve_vss_and_bm25.Rd
+++ b/man/ragnar_retrieve_vss_and_bm25.Rd
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ documents.
 The results are not re-ranked after identifying the unique values.
 }
 \examples{
-\dontshow{if ((rlang::is_installed("dbplyr") && nzchar(Sys.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")))) (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
+\dontshow{if ((rlang::is_installed("dbplyr") && nzchar(Sys.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")) && ragnar:::can_load_duckdb_extensions())) (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
 ## Build a small store with categories
 store <- ragnar_store_create(
   embed = \(x) ragnar::embed_openai(x, model = "text-embedding-3-small"),
diff --git a/man/ragnar_store_create.Rd b/man/ragnar_store_create.Rd
index de2db7b..4ed984b 100644
--- a/man/ragnar_store_create.Rd
+++ b/man/ragnar_store_create.Rd
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ chunk. The easiest way to prepare \code{chunks} for \code{version = 1} is with
 }
 }
 \examples{
+\dontshow{if (ragnar:::can_load_duckdb_extensions()) (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
 # A store with a dummy embedding
 store <- ragnar_store_create(
   embed = \(x) matrix(stats::runif(10), nrow = length(x), ncol = 10),
@@ -133,4 +134,5 @@ ragnar_store_build_index(store)
 
 ragnar_retrieve(store, "abc bcd xyz", deoverlap = FALSE)
 ragnar_retrieve(store, "abc bcd xyz", deoverlap = TRUE)
+\dontshow{\}) # examplesIf}
 }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/helper-doc.R b/tests/testthat/helper-doc.R
index 487205d..4c1a0c0 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/helper-doc.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/helper-doc.R
@@ -33,7 +33,14 @@ skip_on_cran <- function() {
   skip_if(maybe_on_cran(), "Maybe On CRAN")
 }
 
+skip_if_cant_load_duckdb_extensions <- function() {
+  if (!can_load_duckdb_extensions()) {
+    testthat::skip("DuckDB extensions cannot be loaded")
+  }
+}
+
 skip_if_cant_use_motherduck <- function() {
+  skip_if_cant_load_duckdb_extensions()
   if (Sys.getenv("motherduck_token") == "") {
     testthat::skip("motherduck_token not set")
   }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-extra-cols.R b/tests/testthat/test-extra-cols.R
index 331c620..747621d 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-extra-cols.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-extra-cols.R
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 test_that("extra cols works", {
   skip_on_cran() # See comment in test-retrieve.R and test-read-markdown.R
+  skip_if_cant_load_duckdb_extensions()
   store <- ragnar_store_create(
     version = 2,
     embed = \(x) matrix(nrow = length(x), ncol = 100, stats::runif(100)),
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-retrieve.R b/tests/testthat/test-retrieve.R
index d9184fa..4783f9a 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-retrieve.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-retrieve.R
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ system.time(test_that("retrieving works as expected, v1", {
   # > Running R code in 'testthat.R' had CPU time 2.6 times elapsed time
   # Unfortunately, this means we can't test properly on CRAN.
   skip_on_cran()
+  skip_if_cant_load_duckdb_extensions()
 
   # Create a simple store and insert some chunks
   store <- ragnar_store_create(
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ system.time(test_that("retrieving works as expected, v1", {
 
 test_that("retrieving works as expected", {
   skip_on_cran() # See comment (above) in test-retrieve.R
+  skip_if_cant_load_duckdb_extensions()
   # Create a simple store and insert some chunks
   store <- ragnar_store_create(
     embed = \(x) matrix(nrow = length(x), ncol = 100, stats::runif(100))
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-store.R b/tests/testthat/test-store.R
index b7c2832..57c6a9b 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-store.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-store.R
@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@ test_that("additional columns", {
 
 test_that("Allow a NULL embedding function", {
   skip_on_cran() # See comment in test-retrieve.R
+  skip_if_cant_load_duckdb_extensions()
   store <- ragnar_store_create(embed = NULL, version = 1)
   maybe_set_threads(store)
   chunks <- data.frame(
@@ -302,6 +303,7 @@ test_that("embed functions get the defaults stored", {
 
 test_that("store v1 accepts markdown chunks (from v2)", {
   skip_on_cran() # See comment in test-retrieve.R
+  skip_if_cant_load_duckdb_extensions()
   store <- ragnar_store_create(
     version = 1,
     embed = \(x) matrix(nrow = length(x), ncol = 100, stats::runif(100))
diff --git a/tools/configure_deps.R b/tools/configure_deps.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..291c010
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/configure_deps.R
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# tools/configure_reticulate.R
+
+# Make reticulate setup the ephemeral venv in advance,
+# primarily so CRAN examples run quickly and don't trigger a warning
+
+Sys.setenv("RETICULATE_PYTHON" = "managed")
+
+library(reticulate)
+py_require(c(
+  "markitdown[all]",
+  if (identical(.Platform$OS.type, "windows")) {
+    py_require("onnxruntime<=1.20.1")
+  }
+))
+try({
+  print(py_config())
+  import("markitdown")
+})
+
+
+
+rscript_exe <- function() {
+  file.path(
+    R.home("bin"),
+    if (is_windows()) "Rscript.exe" else "Rscript"
+  )
+}
+
+load_duckdb_extensions_in_subprocess <- function() {
+  # download duckdb extensions (which are also cached by duckdb)
+  # same motivation as reticulate, avoid NOTE due to first-run download:
+  #   'Examples with CPU (user + system) or elapsed time > 5s
+  # We do this in a subprocess in case of segfaults with mismatched ABI,
+  # see comments in package code.
+  try(system2(
+    rscript_exe(),
+    "-",
+    input = c(
+      "con <- DBI::dbConnect(duckdb::duckdb())",
+      "DBI::dbExecute(con, 'INSTALL fts; INSTALL vss;')",
+      "DBI::dbExecute(con, 'LOAD fts; LOAD vss;')"
+    )
+  ))
+}
+
+load_duckdb_extensions_in_subprocess()
+
+NULL
diff --git a/tools/configure_reticulate.R b/tools/configure_reticulate.R
deleted file mode 100644
index 4b473a7..0000000
--- a/tools/configure_reticulate.R
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-# tools/configure_reticulate.R
-
-# Make reticulate setup the ephemeral venv in advance,
-# primarily so CRAN examples run quickly and don't trigger a warning
-
-Sys.setenv("RETICULATE_PYTHON" = "managed")
-
-library(reticulate)
-py_require(c(
-  "markitdown[all]",
-  if (identical(.Platform$OS.type, "windows")) {
-    py_require("onnxruntime<=1.20.1")
-  }
-))
-try({
-  print(py_config())
-  import("markitdown")
-})