TsqlRefine 0.4.0

tsqlrefine

T-SQL linter, auto-fixer, and formatter for SQL Server.

Note: This project is currently in early development (pre-1.0). Breaking changes are expected.

Why T-SQL Refine?

Managing T-SQL queries in a Git repository without a live database connection introduces unique risks:

• Queries can silently break during merges or refactoring, with errors surfacing only at execution time
• Stored procedures and views may reference dropped columns or mismatched types that go unnoticed until deployment
• Inconsistent formatting creates noisy diffs and slows code review

T-SQL Refine catches these problems before execution using static analysis on the SQL script alone — no database connection required. It is designed for CI/CD pipelines and offline validation, so your team can enforce quality gates on every pull request.

Features

Lint - Static Analysis

Detects issues in T-SQL code. Includes 89 built-in rules covering security, performance, and coding conventions.

Each rule is classified by severity:

• Error — Likely to cause runtime failures or data corruption
• Warning — Valid SQL but risky or discouraged patterns
• Information — Style or maintainability recommendations

This allows teams to gradually enforce stricter rules without blocking development.

# Lint a file
tsqlrefine lint path/to/file.sql

# Lint a directory recursively
tsqlrefine lint path/to/dir

# Lint from stdin
echo "SELECT * FROM users;" | tsqlrefine lint --stdin

# Output as JSON (for CI integration)
tsqlrefine lint --output json path/to/file.sql

Example output:

path/to/file.sql:3:1: warning avoid-select-star: Avoid SELECT *; explicitly list columns
path/to/file.sql:7:5: error missing-where-clause: UPDATE/DELETE without WHERE clause

Fix - Auto-fix

Automatically fixes detected issues. Rules with fixable: true can be auto-fixed.

Safe by design: Auto-fix is applied only to rules explicitly marked as fixable. All fixes are deterministic and syntax-aware — they never produce invalid SQL. Use dry-run mode (the default) to preview changes before writing.

# Preview fixes (dry run)
tsqlrefine fix path/to/file.sql

# Apply fixes to files
tsqlrefine fix --write path/to/file.sql

# Fix all .sql files in a directory
tsqlrefine fix --write path/to/dir

Auto-fix examples:

Format - Code Formatting

Formats T-SQL code to a consistent style. Respects .editorconfig indentation settings.

# Print formatted output to stdout
tsqlrefine format path/to/file.sql

# Format files in-place
tsqlrefine format --write path/to/file.sql

# Format all .sql files in a directory
tsqlrefine format --write path/to/dir

Formatting features:

• Keyword uppercasing (select → SELECT)
• Consistent indentation
• Whitespace normalization
• Trailing whitespace removal

Installation

.NET Global Tool (Recommended)

# Install
dotnet tool install --global TsqlRefine

# Update
dotnet tool update --global TsqlRefine

# Uninstall
dotnet tool uninstall --global TsqlRefine

Local Tool (Project-specific)

dotnet new tool-manifest
dotnet tool install TsqlRefine
dotnet tsqlrefine --help

From Source

git clone https://github.com/user/tsqlrefine.git
cd tsqlrefine
dotnet build src/TsqlRefine.sln -c Release

Configuration

Generate Config Files

tsqlrefine init

Creates the following files:

• tsqlrefine.json - Tool configuration
• tsqlrefine.ignore - Exclusion patterns

tsqlrefine.json

{
  "compatLevel": 150,
  "preset": "recommended",
  "plugins": []
}

Preset Rulesets

tsqlrefine lint --preset strict path/to/file.sql

.editorconfig

The format command respects indentation settings:

[*.sql]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4

Exit Codes

Rules and Plugins

# List built-in rules
tsqlrefine list-rules

# List loaded plugins
tsqlrefine list-plugins

See docs/Rules/README.md for a rules overview, or docs/Rules/REFERENCE.md for the full rule reference.

Documentation

• CLI Specification
• Configuration
• Formatting Options
• Plugin API
• Rules Overview
• Rule Reference

License

MIT License - see LICENSE